Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in short “Hainan Prefecture”, is an autonomous prefecture under jurisdiction of Qinghai Province. Hainan prefecture seat is Gonghe County. It is one of eight prefecture-level administrative regions in Qinghai.
Location
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is adjacent to Haidong City and Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in east, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in west, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in south, and Qinghai Lake and Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in north.
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is 260 kilometers wide from east to west, and 270 kilometers long from north to south, covering an area of 44,500 square kilometers, accounting for 6.18% of total area of Qinghai Province.
There are undulating mountains, long rivers, dense forests and abundant tourism resources, including Qinghai Lake, Longyangxia Reservoir, Guide Ancient City, Futong City, Guide Yellow River Valley, Jishi Gorge, Deji Hot Springs, Mengda Tianchi, Kambula National Forest Park and many other famous scenic spots. An ideal place for culture and natural beauty.
Administrative divisions
There are five counties under jurisdiction of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, that are
Geography and climate
Hainan Prefecture is located in south of Qinghai Lake, east of Qinghai Province. It shows a downward trend from southwest to northeast. As Yellow River flows through. Its entire terrain tilts with the Yellow River as its central axis.
Hainan Prefecture is surrounded by mountains with basins in center, plateau hills and river valleys are alternated among those. The average altitude is above 3000 meters, the highest altitude is 5305 meters, and the lowest altitude is 2168 meters. Yellow River traverses 20 towns and villages in 5 counties with a length of 411.3 kilometers and 101 tributaries;
Its climate is generally drought and less rain, long hours of sunshine, strong solar radiation, cool and cold climate, small annual temperature range and large daily range. Spring is dry and windy, summer is short and cool, autumn is wet and rainy, and winter is long and dry.
Due to complex terrain, altitude disparity, its climate shows difference of different temperatures, on basis of common characteristics of low temperature and low rain, various individual local climate and microclimate characteristics have been formed.
The average temperature decreases with increase in altitude.
The annual average temperature is the highest in valleys of lower section of Yellow River, reaching 7°C;
About 3℃ in Gonghe Basin;
Below 0℃ in areas above 3400 meters;
The area above 4000 meters is below -4℃.
The annual precipitation in southern part and wet area of Qinghai Lake is 400-500 mm,
The annual precipitation in Gonghe Basin and Xinghaizike Beach is between 300-360 mm,
The average annual sunshine in east, north and lake wet areas is 2900-3040 hours,
The average annual sunshine in central and southern regions is 2690-2770 hours.
Population and ethnic group
As of end of 2018, Han population accounted for 25% of permanent population; the minority population accounted for 75%. Among them: Tibetans accounted for 66.31%; Hui accounted for 6.84%; Tu accounted for 0.90%; Salar accounted for 0.24%; Mongolian accounted for 0.70%; other ethnic minorities accounted for 0.17%.
Brief history
Before Qin and Han dynasties, it belonged to “Qiang Rong” region. The ancestors here have entered era of combined use of bronze and stone, and they had primitive collection and agriculture.
In early Western Han Dynasty, Hainan area was included in central dynasty
In 60 BC, Heguan County was established in Hainan area, governing present-day Guide and eastern part of Gonghe
In 4 AD, Xihai County was established, and its jurisdiction included most of present-day Gonghe and Xinghai counties.
After Eastern Jin Dynasty, Guide and Gonghe were under jurisdiction of Qianliang, Houliang, Beiliang, and Tuyuhun regime respectively.
In 576 AD, Northern Zhou Dynasty regained Jiankouzhou in Hannan area, and governed present-day Guide and Guinan.
In 609 AD, Sui Dynasty captured Tuyuhun regime and then established Heyuan and Xihai counties, governing south of Daheba in Xinghai County, Tongde and Gonghe.
In 756 AD, Hainan area was under jurisdiction of Tubo kingdom
In 1099 AD, Jiaosi luo regime occupied the region of Guide area, and to build Xi-ge city
In 1108 AD, Song dynasty’s Army recovered Xi-ge City, and rebuilt Jishi Army, which governed Guide area and an area in its east.
In 1131 AD, Jin kingdom occupied Hannan area, and southeastern of Hainan area was under jurisdiction of Jin kingdom
In 1271 AD, Guide was established, it was under jurisdiction of Marshal’s Mansion of Tubo kingdom
In 1377 AD, Hainan area was under jurisdiction of Do-kham
In 1724 AD, An area north of Yellow River in Guide was under jurisdiction of Xining County.
In 1913 AD, Guide Office was changed to a county, and it was under jurisdiction of Xining-Dao of Gansu Province.
In 1953, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Region was established
In 1955, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Region was renamed Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
In 1978, Counties that were under jurisdiction of Hainan prefecture increased to 6.
In 2001, Prefecture-administered counties were restored to five, which are Gonghe, Guide, Tongde, Guinan, and Xinghai, till now
