The province of Qinghai is named after the enormous Qinghai Lake. It is located on the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. It borders Gansu in the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in the northwest, Sichuan in the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region in the southwest. Most of Qinghai is part of the traditional provinces of Kham and Amdo of Tibet. It is the birthplace and home to many influential Tibetan figures in history, including Tsongkapa (the greatest commentator in the history of Buddhism) and many of the Dalai Lamas. The Yellow River (Huang He) originates in the middle of the province, while the Yangtze and Mekong have their sources in the southern part.

History

Since ancient times, there had been traces of human activities in present Qinghai Province. The earliest inhabitants are Di and Qiang peoples. Numerous ancient cultural relics determine that the development of Qinghai has at least 6,000 years history. During Xia and Shang dynasties, the Qiang people migrated to eastern part of today’s Qinghai and settled down as a tribe of ‘west Qiang’ who made a living in agriculture and husbandry. With the introduction of advanced production techniques from the Central Plains, farming has made progress and the population is also increased. At the high peak period in Qin and Han dynasties, there were over 150 Qiang tribes ruled under each chieftain. Those Qiang’s decedents became the Han nationality later after Qinghai had more political and economic relationships with Central China. In 121 BC, the Han dynasty built the northern Silk Road passed through today’s Qinghai province, and established a trading routes connect modern Xining to outside world.

In Tang dynasty around 7th century, tribes of Qinghai was under the control of the Tupo dynasty by the King Songtsen Gampo. Qinghai became a battleground during the Tang when they fought against successive Tibetan tribes. In order to stop fighting, in 638, Tibet King of Songtsen Gampo sues for peace by marriage with Tang. Later in 640, Wencheng Princess, the daughter of Tang Taizong, took a 3,000-km journey to Tibet for the marriage with Songtsen Gampo along the famous Tang-Tupo route to Lhasa via Qinghai. The princess brought craftsman, artists, books to Tibet had positive influence on the fostering of friendly ties between the Han and Tibetan people and the promotion of Tibet’s economic and cultural development.

In Yuan dynasty around 13 to 14 century, Genghis Khan lead his Mongolian troops to occupy today’s Xining, and control the tribes in wide nomadic areas in Gansu, north Sichuan and Qinghai. Many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries were established and the Tibetan Buddhism began to be flourished in Qinghai by the support of Yuan dynasty. During this time the Tu began to move into the area around Huzhu, followed a century or so later by the Salar Muslims into Xunhua. Till the Qing dynasty, the Qing emperors restored the region to full Chinese control, setting it up as a prefecture with more or less the same boundaries as today.

Qinghai officially became a province of China in 1929 during the republican era, though at the time it was under the de facto control of the Muslim Ma clan. Qinghai was again made a province in 1949 with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Geography

Qinghai Province is in northwest China and located on the northeast part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Qinghai has an area of 720,000 square kilometers and the province is separated by the natural watershed of Sun and Moon Mountain into different landforms in different directions. The east part including the capital city of Xining is the agricultural zones, two of third populations inhabit this area. The west and the south are pastoral zones, accounts 96% area of the province. The south has the most plenty rainfall in Qinghai, where is also the sources or originates of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Lancangjiang River (the Mekong).

Qinghai is a province with the mountainous terrain and numerous rivers and lakes. Altitude ranges from 3,000 meters to 6,860 meters above sea level. Most of the summits of major mountain ranges are more than 4,300 meters high. The main mountains in Qinghai are Qilian Mountain in the northeast, Kunlun Mountain in the north, Amnye Machen Mountain, Bayankala range and Tanggula Mountain. Gela Dandong Peak, with altitude of 6,622 meters above sea level, is the province’s highest point and also the source of the Yangtze. In Qinghai, there are numerous rivers and over 200 lakes with area more than 10,000 square kilometers, including 151 freshwater lakes, 85 saltwater lakes and 30 salt lakes. Qinghai Lake (Koko Nor) is the largest salt water lake in China, and the second largest in the world.

Climate

The climate in Qinghai belongs to typical Plateau continental climate, which is dry, windy, cold and large temperature difference between every region, day and night, with annual average temperature from 5℃ to 8℃. Winters are cold and long; summers are cool but short.

Language, Population & Religion

Most of the population in Qinghai speaks a northwestern Chinese dialect similar to that spoken in Gansu that has little difference with Mandarin. Most Tibetans here speak the Amdo dialect. It’s possible to travel almost everywhere using Mandarin. Qinghai is perhaps China's most scarcely populated province. It only has a total population of 5,180,000 with multiple ethnic groups inhabited in large area. Major ethnic groups include Tibetan, Hui, Tu, Salar, Mongolian, and Kazak. The major religions are Tibetan Buddhism and Islam.

Qinghai-Tibet Railway

As the China’s first railroad connects to Tibet TAR, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, stretches totally 1,956 meters between Xining and Lhasa with almost half of the segment at the altitude over 4,000 meters, thus it becomes the world’s longest and highest railway since it opened in July 2006. Atop the 5,072m Tanggu-la Pass, the line sets many other top records includes the world’s highest Tanggula railway station at 5,068m and the world’s highest Fenghuoshan rail tunnel at 4,905m. The official starting point of the Tibetan Railway is the city of Xining, from here, the journey traces the dramatic landscapes and a wide range of geography ascending all the way to Lhasa.