青海省
Qīnghǎi Shěng

Abbreviation: 青 (pinyin: Qīng)
Origin of Name	青 qīng - green/blue 海 hǎi - sea "green sea" (Lake Qinghai)
Administration Type	Province
Capital and Largest City	Xining
CPC Qinghai Committee Secretary	Zhao Leji
Governor (Acting)	Song Xiuyan
Area	721,000 km² (4th)
Population (2002)  - Density	5,290,000 (30th) 7.3/km² (30th)
GDP (2002)  - per capita	34.1 billion ¥ (29th) 6448 ¥ (18th)
Major Nationalities (2000)	Han - 54% Tibetan - 23% Hui - 16% Tu - 4% Salar - 1.8% Mongol - 1.8%
Prefecture-level divisions	8
County-level divisions	43
Township-level divisions	429
ISO 3166-2	CN-63

Qinghai (Chinese: 青海; pinyin: Qīnghǎi; Wade-Giles: Ch'ing-hai; Postal System Pinyin: Tsinghai) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after the enormous Qinghai Lake (Koko Nor).

History

Qinghai was historically part of the Amdo province of Tibet. In 1928 it became a province of the then Republic of China.

Geography

Qinghai is located on the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The Yellow River originates in the middle of the province, while the Yangtze and Mekong have their sources in the southern part.

Economy

Demographics

The province of Qinghai boasts a population of 5 million, among which the Han is the largest group. Other groups include the Tibetans, Tu, Hui, Salar and Mongols.

Culture

Transport

See Transportation in China.

Tourism

Miscellaneous topics

Parts of the anime and manga Ranma ½ take place at the Jusenkyo Springs, a fictional, secret training ground in Qinghai.

External links