Haixi Mongolian Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, referred to as Haixi Prefecture, is located in west of Qinghai Province.
It is named after it is located to west of Qinghai Lake
Location
It is an autonomous prefecture under jurisdiction of Qinghai Province. Located in western of Qinghai, the capital of autonomous prefecture is Delingha City
Haixi Prefecture is connected to Haibei Prefecture in northeast, Hainan Prefecture in east, Golog Prefecture in southeast, Yushu Prefecture in south, Bayingoleng Prefecture of Xinjiang in west, Jiuquan City and Zhangye City of Gansu Province in north.
Tanggula Mountain Town in southwest corner of Qinghai province is managed by Haixi Prefecture, it is an enclave adjacent to Nagqu City of Tibet Autonomous Region.
Administrative divisions
Haixi Prefecture has 3 county-level cities, 3 counties, and 1 administrative committee under its jurisdiction.
County-level cities
Counties
Administrative Committee
Dachaidan Administrative Committee
(administers towns of Chaidan and Xitieshan that are directly under jurisdiction of Haixi Autonomous Prefecture)
Geography and climate
Haixi Prefecture is about 837 kilometers long from east to west, about 486 kilometers wide from north to south, and covers an area of 300,700 square kilometers.
It is mainly composed of two parts, Qaidam Basin surrounded by Kunlun Mountains, Altun Mountains, Qilian Mountains, and plateau at northern foot of Tanggula Mountain. Among those, the main region of Qaidam Basin covers an area of 256,000 square kilometers, accounting for 85.28% of entire prefecture;
From edge to center of Qaidam Basin, there are five landform types that are mountains, hills, Gobi, plains, lakes and swamps, distributed in a ring shape; the terrain is high in northwest and low in southeast. In southern of Qaidam basin, there are many salty lakes, saline marshes, and a large area of crescent-shaped sand dunes
Northern of Qaidam basin is intermittently distributed with mountains that divide Qaidam basin into small basins and valleys.
Altitude of Haixi Prefecture is between 2675 and 6860 meters, and Tangula mountains in south is mostly above 4500 meters.
“Haixi Corridor”
Haixi Corridor is named for its location to west of Qinghai Lake in China, between Qilian Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, crossing Qaidam Basin, starting from Xining City to east via Mangya county in Qinghai and Ruoqiang area in southern Xinjiang. It is one of important channels that connecting mainland of China and southern Xinjiang.
It is also one of important routes of Ancient Silk Road,and constitutes an important land route linking between China mainland and western Xinjiang, and even Central Asia, West Asia and Europe.
Due to its vast territory and complex topography, Haixi Prefecture can be divided into “Arid desert area” and “Alpine area” around Qaidam basin.
The arid desert area of Qaidam Basin is deep in hinterland of mainland and is surrounded by high mountains. It is difficult for warm and humid airflow from southwest to enter, so precipitation is scarce and climate is dry.
In Qinghai Province, it is still considered a low-lying area, so temperature is higher. The mountainous areas around basin have high terrain and cold climate.
Few precipitation days and small precipitation are main features of precipitation in Haixi Prefecture. The annual average wind speed of whole prefecture varies due to influence of terrain, Qaidam basin is generally 3-4 meters per second, and the annual average wind speed in mountains is above 4 meters per second.
Population and ethnic group
Haixi Mongolian Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an immigrant-type and multi-ethnic region with 35 ethnic groups including Mongolia, Tibet, Han, Hui, Tu and Salar, among which main ethnic groups are Mongolian and Tibetan. As of end of 2019, permanent population of Haixi Prefecture was 520,700 people
Brief History
In 4 AD, Xihai County was established, east of Haixi area was under its jurisdiction
In Jin Dynasty, Tuyuhun regime occupied Haixi area.
In 663 AD, Tubo kingdom conquered Tuyuhun regime, Haixi area was under jurisdiction of Tubo kingdom
In Yuan Dynasty, Haixi area was under jurisdiction of Do-kham
At beginning of Ming Dynasty, Haixi area was under jurisdiction of Xining
In 1725 AD, Haixi area was under jurisdiction of Mongolian Minister of Affairs.
In 6th year of Republic of China (1917), it was governed by Dulan county
In the 19Dulan county year of Republic of China (1930), Dulan was changed to Dulan County, which governed entire territory of Haixi area and being subordinate to Qinghai Province.
In 1949, Dulan County Government was established to govern entire Haixi area and directly
In 1952, Dulan County was abolished and county-level “Mongolia-Tibet Kazakh Autonomous Region of Dulan County” was established.
In 1954, it was transformed into a special district-level “Haixi Meng Tibetan Kazakh Autonomous Region”
In 1955, it was renamed “Hexi Mogol Tibetan Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture”.
In 1958, it was renamed “Qaidam Administrative Committee”.
In 1963, the entire administrative region was called “Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture”.
In 1966, prefecture capital was moved to Delingha city
In 1985, it was named “Haixi Mongolian Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”.
