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Qinghai is an inland province in Northwestern China. It is the largest province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population with its capital and largest city being Xining.
Qinghai borders Gansu on the northeast, Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest. Qinghai province was established in 1928 during the period of the Republic of China, and until 1949 was ruled by Hui people warlords known as the Ma clique. The Chinese language name "Qinghai" is after Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China. The lake is known as Tso ngon in Tibetan, and as Kokonor Lake in English, derived from the Mongol Oirat language name for Qinghai Lake. Both Tso ngon and Kokonor are names found in historic documents to describe the region.Gangchen Khishong, 2001. Tibet and Manchu: An Assessment of Tibet-Manchu Relations in Five Phases of Development. Dharmasala: Narthang Press, p.1-70.
Located mostly on the Tibetan Plateau, the province is inhabited by a number of peoples including the Han Chinese (concentrated in the provincial capital of Xining, nearby Haidong, and Haixi), Tibetan people, Hui people, Mongols, Monguor people, and Salar people. According to the 2021 census reports, Tibetans constitute a fifth of the population of Qinghai and the Hui compose roughly a sixth of the population. There are over 37 recognized ethnic groups among Qinghai's population of 5.6 million, with national minorities making up a total of 49.5% of the population.
The area of Qinghai came under the control of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty around 1724, after their defeat of Khoshut Mongols who previously controlled most of the area. After the Xinhai Revolution and the ensuing fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qinghai came under Chinese Muslim warlord Ma Qi's control until the Northern Expedition by the Republic of China consolidated central control in 1928. In the same year, the province of Qinghai was established by the Nationalist Government, with Xining as its capital.
In the middle of 3rd century CE, nomadic people related to the Xianbei migrated to pasture lands around the Qinghai Lake (Koko Nur) and established the Tuyuhun Kingdom.
In the 7th century, the Tuyuhun Kingdom was attacked by both the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty as both sought control over the Silk Road trade routes. Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo was victorious, and settled the area around Tso ngon (Lake Go, or Kokonor Lake).Laurent Deshayes, 1997. Histoire du Tibet. Paris: Fayard. Military conflicts had severely weakened the Tuyuhun kingdom and it was incorporated into the Tibetan Empire. The Tibetan Empire continued expanding beyond Tso ngon during Trisong Detsen's and Ralpacan's reigns, and the empire controlled vast areas north and east of Tso ngon until 848,Gertraud Taenzer, 2012. The Dunhuang Region during Tibetan Rule (787–848). (Berlin): Harrassowitz Verlag. which included Xi'an.
During the fragmentation of the Tibetan Empire, a series of local polities emerged under the political jostling of Western Xia to the north and Song dynasty to the east – from the military-rule of Guiyi Circuit, to a Tibetan tribal confederacy, and eventually Tsongkha. The Song dynasty eventually defeated the Kokonor kingdom Tsongkha in the 1070s. Leung 2007, p. 57. During the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty's administrative rule of Tibet, the region comprised the headwaters of the Ma chu (Machu River, Yellow River) and the Yalong (Yangtze) rivers and was known as Amdo, but apportioned to different administrative divisions than Tibet proper.
Most of Qinghai was, for a short time in the aftermath of the Yuan dynasty's overthrow, under the control of early Ming dynasty, but later gradually lost to the Khoshut Khanate founded by the Oirats. The Xunhua Salar Autonomous County is where most Salar people live in Qinghai. The Salars migrated to Qinghai from Samarkand in 1370. The chief of the four upper clans around this time was Han Pao-yuan and Ming granted him office of centurion, it was at this time the people of his four clans took Han as their surname.William Ewart Gladstone, Baron Arthur Hamilton-Gordon Stanmore (1961). 9780871695147, American Philosophical Society. . ISBN 9780871695147 The other chief Han Shan-pa of the four lower Salar clans got the same office from Ming, and his clans were the ones who took Ma as their surname.William Ewart Gladstone, Baron Arthur Hamilton-Gordon Stanmore (1961). 9780871695147, American Philosophical Society. . ISBN 9780871695147
From 1640 to 1724, a big part of the area that is now Qinghai was under Khoshut Mongol control, but in 1724 it was conquered by the armies of the Qing dynasty. The Times Atlas of World History. (Maplewood, New Jersey: Hammond, 1989) p. 175 Xining, the capital of modern Qinghai province, began to function as the administrative center, although the city itself was then part of Gansu province within the "Tibetan frontier district". In 1724, 13-Article for the Effective Governing of Qinghai (Chinese:青海善后事宜十三条) was proposed by Nian Gengyao and adopted by the Central Government to gain full control of Qinghai.
Under the Qing dynasty, the governor was a viceroy of the Emperor, but local ethnic groups enjoyed significant autonomy. Many chiefs retained their traditional authority, participating in local administrations. The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) devastated the Hui people Muslim population of Shaanxi, shifting the Hui center of population to Gansu and Qinghai. Another Dungan Revolt broke out in Qinghai in 1895 when various Muslim ethnic groups in Qinghai and Gansu rebelled against the Qing. Following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the region came under Chinese Muslim warlord Ma Qi control until the Northern Expedition by the Republic of China consolidated central control in 1928.
In July–August 1912, General Ma Fuxiang was "Acting Chief Executive Officer of Kokonur" (de facto Governor of the region that later became Qinghai). In 1928, Qinghai province was created. The Muslim warlord and General Ma Qi became military governor of Qinghai, followed by his brother Ma Lin and then Ma Qi's son Ma Bufang. In 1932 Tibet invaded Qinghai, attempting to capture southern parts of Qinghai province, following contention in Yushu, Qinghai, over a monastery in 1932. The army of Ma Bufang defeated the Tibetan armies. Governor of Qinghai Ma Bufang was described as a socialist by American journalist John Roderick and friendly compared to the other Ma Clique warlords. Ma Bufang was reported to be good humoured and jovial in contrast to the brutal reign of Ma Hongkui. Most of eastern China was ravaged by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, by contrast, Qinghai was relatively untouched.
Ma Bufang increased the prominence of the Hui people and Salar people in Qinghai's politics by heavily recruiting to his army from the counties in which those ethnic groups predominated. General Ma started a state run and controlled industrialization project, directly creating educational, medical, agricultural, and sanitation projects, run or assisted by the state. The state provided money for food and uniforms in all schools, state run or private. Roads and a theater were constructed. The state controlled all the press, no freedom was allowed for independent journalists.
As the 1949 Chinese revolution approached Qinghai, Ma Bufang abandoned his post and flew to Hong Kong, traveling abroad but never returning to China. On January 1, 1950, the Qinghai Province People's Government was declared, owing its allegiance to the new People's Republic of China. Aside from some minor adjustments to suit the geography, the PRC maintained the province's territorial integrity. Resistance to Communist rule continued in the form of the Huis' Kuomintang Islamic insurgency (1950–58), spreading past traditionally Hui areas to the ethnic-Tibetan south. Although the Hui composed 15.6% of Qinghai's population in 1949, making the province the second-largest concentration of Hui after Ningxia, the state denied the Hui ethnic autonomous townships and counties that their numbers warranted under Chinese law until the 1980s.
The Yellow River originates in the southern part of the province, while the Yangtze River and Mekong have their sources in the southwestern part. Qinghai is separated by the Riyue Mountain into pastoral and agricultural zones in the west and east.
The Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve is located in Qinghai and contains the headwaters of the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Mekong River. The reserve was established to protect the headwaters of these three rivers and consists of 18 subareas, each containing three zones which are managed with differing degrees of strictness.
Qinghai Lake is the largest salt water lake in China, and the second largest in the world. Other large lakes are Lake Hala in the Qilian Mountains, lakes Gyaring Lake and Ngoring Lake in the headwater region of the Yellow River, Donggi Cona, and many saline and in the western part of the province. The Qaidam lies in the northwest part of the province at an altitude between 3000 and 5000 meters above sea level. About a third of this resource rich basin is desert.
The Governor of Qinghai is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Qinghai. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Qinghai Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary.
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| Qīnghǎi Shěng |
| Xīníng Shì |
| Hǎidōng Shì |
| Hǎiběi Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Huángnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Hǎinán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Guǒluò Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Yùshù Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Hǎixī Měnggǔzú Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
The eight prefecture-level divisions of Qinghai are subdivided into 44 county-level divisions (6 districts, 4 county-level cities, 27 counties and 7 autonomous counties).
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From September 1848, the city was the seat of a short-lived Latin Catholic Apostolic Vicariate (pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction) of Kokonur (alias Khouhkou-noor, Kokonoor), but it was suppressed in 1861. No incumbent(s) recorded.
| A Taoist temple dedicated to Jiutian Xuannü on Mount Fenghuang, in Lunmalong village, Duoba, Xining File:Qinghai.Riyue shan.jpg | A Buddhist temple on Riyue Mountain, in Huangyuan County, Xining File:Qinghai.Huangyuan xian mosques.jpg | and Chinese temple characterising the skyline of Huangyuan County File:Rebkong monastery.JPG | Rongwo Monastery Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Tongren County File:Qinghai.Duoba great mosquee.2.jpg | Great Mosque of Duoba, Xining |
The main religions in Qinghai are Tibetan Buddhism, Islam and Chinese Folk Religions. The Dongguan Mosque has been continuously operating since 1380.Cooke, Susette. "Surviving State and Society in Northwest China: The Hui Experience in Qinghai Province under the PRC." Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 28.3 (2008): 401–420. Measures of education in Qinghai are low, particularly among the ethnic minorities. The yak, which is native to Qinghai, is widely used in the province for transportation and its meat. The Mongols of Qinghai celebrate the Naadam festival on the Qaidam Basin every year.
Its heavy industry includes iron and steel production, located near its capital city of Xining. Oil and natural gas from the Qaidam Basin have also been an important contributor to the economy. Salt works operate at many of the province's numerous salt lakes.
Outside of the provincial capital, Xining, most of Qinghai remains underdeveloped. Qinghai ranks second lowest in China in terms of highway length, and will require a significant expansion of its infrastructure to capitalize on the economic potential of its rich natural resources.
XETDZ enjoys a convenient transportation system, connected by the Xining-Lanzhou expressway and running through by two main roads, the broadest in the city. It is 4 km from the railway station, 15 km from Xi'ning Airport—a grade 4D airport with 14 airlines to cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi'an. Xining is Qinghai province's passage to the outside world, a transportation hub with more than ten highways, over 100 roads and two railways, Lanzhou-Qinghai and Qinghai-Tibet Railways in and out of the city.
It focuses on the development of following industries: chemicals based on salt lake resources, nonferrous metals, and petroleum and natural gas processing; special medicine, foods and bio-chemicals using local plateau animals and plants; new products involving ecological and environmental protection, high technology, new materials as well as information technology; and services such as logistics, banking, real estate, tourism, hotel, catering, agency and international trade.
During the hot summer months, many tourists from the hot southern and eastern parts of China travel to Xining, as the climate of Xining in July and August is quite mild and comfortable, making the city an ideal summer retreat.
Qinghai Lake (p=qīnghǎi hú) is another tourist attraction, albeit further from Xining than Kumbum Monastery (Ta'er Si). The lake is the largest saltwater lake in China, and is also located on the "Roof of the World", the Tibetan Plateau. The lake itself lies at 3,600 m elevation. The surrounding area is made up of rolling and populated by ethnic Tibetans. Most pre-arranged tours stop at Bird Island (p=niǎo dǎo). An international bicycle race takes place annually from Xining to Qinghai Lake.
Construction on the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway, in the province's northwestern part, started in 2012.
Six National Highways run through the province.
Xining Caojiabao International Airport provides service to Beijing, Lanzhou, Golmud and Delingha. Smaller regional airports, Delingha Airport, Golog Maqin Airport, Huatugou Airport, Qilian Airport and Yushu Batang Airport, serve the province's smaller communities; plans exist for the construction of three more by 2020.
have been provided to 186 remote villages in Qinghai Province as of September 14, 2007. The areas benefited were Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Qinghai has recently been provided with satellite telephone access. In June 2007, China Satcom carried out an in-depth survey in Yushu and Guoluo, and made a special satellite phones for these areas. Two phones were provided to each village for free, and calls were charged at the rate of 0.2 RMB (about a quarter of a US cent at that time) per minute for both local and national calls, with the extra charges assumed by China Satcom. No monthly rent was charged on the satellite phone. International calls were also available.
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