Travel in Qinghai

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Qinghai Facts

Qinghai is one of the important province on China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is famous for the country's largest inland saltwater lake – Qinghai Lake in its territory. Located in the northwest region in China, Qinghai borders on Gansu, Sichuan, Tibet and Xinjiang provinces. It is the source of Chinese two largest rivers Yangtze River and Yellow River; and it is also the birthplace of the Lancang River. It is known as the “source of rivers” and “Chinese water tower”.

Qinghai is a multi-ethnic province; there are about 43 ethnic groups working and living here including Han, Tibetan, Hui, Monguor, Salar, and Moggol nationalities. The world's three major religions Buddhism, Islam and Christianity have spread in the whole province. The Tibetan, Tu and Moggol nationalities believe in Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism); the Hui and Salar nationalities believe in Islam.

Basic Information

Chinese Name: 青海

Location: Qinghai is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Provincial capital: Xining
Area: Qinghai has the total area of 722300 square kilometers.
Population: a popu Qinghai location map

lation of almost 5.63 millions

Geography

Qinghai is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, longitude 89 ° 35 ‘to 103 ° 04' and north latitude 31 ° 40 ‘to 39 ° 19'. It is 1200 km long from east to west, and 800 kilometers wide from north to south. It has towering mountains, diverse terrain, rivers and lakes spread all over the province. It has the towering Kunlun Mountains traverse in the middle, the Mt. Tanggulashan stand on the the south, Mt. Qilian stand tall and upright on the north. The source of the Yellow River and Yangtze River is in Qinghai. No matter you go to Xinjiang or Tibet, Dunhuang or Lhasa, Qinghai is the only way which must be passed for the west traveling.

Administrative Division

Qinghai is divided into one prefecture-level city, one district and six autonomous prefectures:

Name

Hanzi

Administrative Seat

Xining City

西宁市

Nanguan Street

Haidong Region

海东地区

Ping'an County

Haibei Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

海北藏族自治州

Haiyan County

Huangnan Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

黄南藏族自治州

Tongren County

Hainan Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

海南藏族自治州

Gonghe County

Goluo Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

果洛藏族自治州

Maqin County

Yushu Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

玉树藏族自治州

Yushu County

Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan

Autonomous Prefecture

海西蒙古族藏族自治州

Delingha City

Climate

Qinghai climate belongs to plateau continental climate, with low temperatures, a large temperature difference between day and night, less but concentrated rainfall, long sunshine and strong solar radiation. Its annual average temperature is about 2 ℃ to 9 ℃; its duration of frost-free period is about 100 to 200 days; its annual rainfall is about 250mm to 550mm, mainly concentrate on July to September,

Best time to travel

The best time to travel in Qinghai is in summer, especially from May to October. Across the province the average temperature in spring is about 5°C~ 11°C. On mid-May, the grasslands in Qinghai gradually become green. The average temperature in summer is around 4°C to 20.8 °C, seeming a little cool. Qinghai is a good summer resort. On July, on the lakeside of Qinghai Lake, there are vast blooming rape flowers. The yellow flower sea and the vast blue lake are so beautiful. Autumn in Qinghai is a little cold. Its average temperature is about 3°C~10°C. Winter is so cold and lasts for a long time in Qinghai. The average minimum temperature can reach -20°C, while the average minimum temperature can only reach -7°C.

Clothing Tips

During spring and autumn in Qinghai, there is lots of fine sand blow by the wind in the air, you need to put on your wind coat and wear a mask. The temperature of summer in Qinghai has large difference between day and night, especially in the Kunlun Mountains and Qilian Mountains areas. If you go there, you need to prepare the outdoor warm clothes. And people who are interested in mountaineering need to prepare suitable shoes. The summer in Qinghai is mostly sunny day with thin air; tourists should have some ultraviolet prevention measures, and prepare some drugs to prevent altitude reaction. Winter is too cold in Qinghai, you should bring your thick coat and thick sweaters.

Tourism

Qinghai has magnificent mountains and rivers. Its mighty and majestic snow mountains, lush grasslands, dotted with lakes and stretches of rivers and streams, and lush forests, fertile farmland, vast desert, white glaciers constitute a unique and attractive western scenery .

Best place to visit

Qinghai Lake (Xining)
As the largest saline lake in China, Qinghai Lake is reputed as “fairyland” or “Green Lake” as the marvelous and natural beauty of it. The lake has a number of attractions that draw travelers in this region in. The beauty here lies in its salty vastness and the remote peace that it instills. And there is a cycling race around the lake held each year. Each year from April to May is the best time to visit the Bird Island, thought the grassland around the lake is not green at this period.

Taer Monasteryis one of the activity centers of Tibetan Buddhism in northwest China. This monastery incorporates both Tibetan and Han architectural styles. The magnificent temples and halls are, in architecture, a perfect combination of the Han's style of palace buildings with upturned roof-eaves with Tibetan style under-eave walls and decorations. (also called Kumbum Mosque) which is a typical religious building with a history more than 400 years. And it

Shopping

Local specialties of Qinghai province are: marmot skin, dark purple budge, Tibetan knife, Chinese caterpillar fungus, fritillaria, pilose antler, Chinese pear-leaved crabapple, yacon, Qaidam medlar, barley wine, notopterygium, Xining rhubarb, etc. Qinghai diet flavors has rich Qinghai plateau characteristics and ethnic style, color, smell, taste and shape are in accordance with its archaic customs with people of all nationalities, and it is harmony with frontier fortress feeling. Even some foods are from the mainland, in Qinghai it has been recreated and improved into a strong plateau flavor food.

History

Qinghai has a long history, and is located in the cradle of the Chinese nation – the source of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River. As early as the late Paleolithic age, dating back 20,000 or 30,000 years ago, Qinghai's ancestors had lived in today's Qaidam Basin and Kunlun Mountains area. According to archaeological excavations, many ancient cultural relics prove that the development of Qinghai has at least five or six thousand years of history. It has brilliant Neolithic culture and its Qinghai painted pottery is world famous.

Culture

Minorities

Indigenous minorities in Qinghai are Tibetan, Hui, Monguor, Salar and Mongolian, and Monguor and Salar ethnic group is unique in Qinghai. Five indigenous ethnic concentrated areas are regional autonomies, successively set up 6 autonomous prefectures and 7 autonomous counties. Among them, there are five Tibetan autonomous prefectures (Yushu, Guoluo, Hainan, Haibei, Huangnan Tibetan autonomous prefecture), a Mongolian Tibetan autonomous prefecture (Xunhuan Salar Mongolian Tibetan autonomous prefecture), a Hui minority autonomous counties (Hualong, Menyuan Hui minority autonomous county), 2 Hui and Monguor autonomous counties (Minhe and Datong the Hui minority autonomous counties), a Mongolian autonomous county (Henan Mongolian autonomous county). Autonomous areas area of 98% of the total area of 72 square kilometers, the autonomous areas of minority population accounts for 81.55% of the province's minority population. In addition, there are 28 nationality townships in the province.

Transport

Qinghai has convenient transportation, aviation, railways, and highways. The prospect of 21st century, the western development will become the strong voice of China's economic development, and Qinghai will also speed up the economic development.

Bus

By the end of 2007, the provincial highway traffic mileage reached 53000 kilometers, basically completed the province “two horizontal three vertical and three road” the main skeleton of highway network. Inter-province highway sections in Qinghai province to western province was completed; Besides the secondary roads to Guoluo state are being rebuilt, the remaining 5 states has been connected by the second class and above highway.

Railway

Existing Railway: Qinghai-Tibet Railway (Xining, Qinghai – Lhasa, Tibet), Lan Qing Railway (Lanzhou – Xining, Qinghai)

Waterway

Navigable waters mainly in Qinghai Lake, Lijiaxia Gorge, Longyangxia Gorge, Gongboxia Gorge, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Clive Crook Lake and other regions.

Aviation

Existing airports: Xining Caojiabu Airport, Golmud Airport, Yushu Batang Airport
The Qinghai Civil Aviation has opened flights from Xining to Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Lhasa, Nanjing, Shenyang, Hohhot, Qingdao, Golmud, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Urumqi and other places.

Qinghai civil aviation has opened flights in Qinghai Xining to Beijing, Xian, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Lhasa, Nanjing, Shenyang, Hohhot, Golmud, Qingdao, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Urumqi, etc. The existing airports in Qinghai are Xining Caojiabu Airport, Golmud Airport, Yushu Batang Airport and so on, where can take off and land large or medium-sized passenger plane. The civil aviation navigation mileage up to 32149 km in 2008; the civil aviation passenger traffic up to 468700 at the end of 2008.