An Introduction to Qinghai Province 青 海 省 简 介

Abbreviation: Qing 青
Capital: Xining
Area: More than 720,000 square kilometers
Population: 4.87 million
Location: In northwest China and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

Qinghai Province lies on the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the Yangtze River and the Yellow River as well as the Lancang River 澜沧江 (a total length of 4,500 kilometers, of which 1,612 kilometers within the boundaries of the Chinese territory) take their sources. The average altitude is over 3,000 meters. Major mountains include Mount Tanggula, Mount Arjin阿尔金山 and Mount Kunlun. Between these mountains are distributed numerous basins, and the Qaidam Basin is one of them. Qinghai Province belongs to continental and plateau climate.

Qinghai’s main industries include mining and petrochemical. There are abundant minerals,. The reserves of kainite钾盐, asbestos石棉, Glauber’s salt芒硝, silica硅石, and boron硼 top China’s other provinces, and the reserves of petrol and natural gas of big quantity. Hence, the Qaidam Basin is claimed a cornucopia / “treasure house.” Qinghai is one of China’s important pasturelands, mainly herding sheep, yaks and horses. Agricultural produce includes wheat and highland barley.

The Ta’er Lamasery is one of the six great yellow sect lamaseries, which is regarded as the “holy land” by Tibetan and Mongolian peoples. Qinghai used to be a regular way for passers from China’s other places to Tibet ever since ancient times. Princess Wencheng (?-680) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), once entering into Tibet from here, has left behind many relics in this place. Qinghai Lake, China’s largest salt-water lake, is a photographers’ and artists’ paradise of mirrored pastel sunrises, azure beauty in midday and the indigo blues of sunset. The Bird Island on the western tip of the lake with less than one square kilometer hosts hundreds of thousands of migrate birds hovering over the sky or diving into the water of the lake.

To escape the hot and humid weather, one of the best places to go in summer is Northwest China’s Qinghai Province. Just over 100 kilometers to the west of Xining lies Qinghai Lake, which is the biggest inland salt lake in China, and is the origin of the name, Qinghai (meaning blue sea) of the province. The birds find the lake a heavenly home with plentiful fish and grass. One hundred and sixty-four species of birds have been identified at the lake. In spring and summer, the lake is ideal for ornithologists and bird-lovers. They may have the luck to admire the precious black-necked crane, a level-one state protected species. In August, most birds have finished breeding and lead their babies on the southward journey. But you can still find the four most common birds of the lake: Cormorant, bar-headed goose, brown-headed gull and great black-headed gull. On the mid-western bank of the lake, the Bird Island provides an ideal hill to observe the entire lake. But do not be misled by the name of the island. The Bird Island is now connected with the main bank as the lake is shrinking at 12 centimeters every year, or 100 meters of water rim in its flat areas. Global warming is the main reason for the shrinking lake. There used to be 109 large and small rivers running into the lake. Nowadays, only about 40 still contribute to the vast lake surface, spanning over 4,300 square kilometers. But the ebbing lake also means a good habitat to the birds. The four small islands in the lake now provide good sandy shores for the birds. Thanks to the effective protection of the reserve and the co-operation of locals and tourists, the bird population is now slowly increasing.

Qinghai is named after the Qinghai Lake covering 4,340 square kilometers, China’s largest continental lake. Qinghai’s widely varying landscape is superb and enticing, offering snow-capped peaks rising 6,000 meters above sea level. Gobi desert dunes of Qaidam, lush ranchland and vast sapphire-like lakes are worth visiting.

Construction of the 1,118-kilometer-long Qinghai-Tibet Railway will be a cornerstone of Qinghai Province’s overall development and concerted efforts are being taken to reduce the environmental impact of the link to a minimum. It started its construction in June 2002 and will be completed in 2007.

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