Dulan County, also known as “Panchen Zhingde County”, means “warm” in Mongolian language; Dulan County is located in the southeast of the Qaidam Basin, in the middle of Qinghai Province, about 205 kilometers from Delingha City, and 428 kilometers from Xining city. It borders Ulan County to the east, Golmud City to the west, Maduo County and Qumarleb County to the south, and Delingha City to the north. The county is about 310 kilometers long from east to west, 180 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of 45,270 square kilometers.
Dulan has a long history. There are more than a thousand ancient tombs and ancient ruins on the 200-kilometer long distance from Xiariha in the east to Nuomohong in the west. As of 2013, 130 kinds of silk products were unearthed from Tubo tombs, as well as lacquerware, gold and silverware that were made in the Central Plains of the Han Dynasty, and ancient Roman gold coins , Persian silver coins and gold and silverware from West Asia and Central Asia, stained glass beads and copper perfume Bottles, etc. These cultural relics have proved the Dulan’s roleon the ancient silk road that connected China and Europe. The rare shell beams and sea shrimp mountains confirm the geographical changes of the sea and the Qaidam Basin hundreds of millions of years ago
Best time to travel From July to September
Local climate Plateau dry continental climate
Most popular sites
Shell beam, the first beam of Chinese sea shrimp and mussel shells, the spectacular shell beam is a 3 km long beam made of shells and sand stains, with a bottom width of 70 meters, a top width of 30 meters and a height of 5 to 10 meters. . It was formed by the accumulation of many shells at the bottom of the basin when the sea became a continent thousands of years ago.
Panchen Zhingde monastery It was built by the Sixth Panchen Lama in the 44th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1779) and is located in the Gobi Oasis. It has always been to receive the Panchen Lama and other upper-class religious people to live when they travel to or from Tibet. The 9th and 10th Panchen Lama had lived here.
Qaidam River Basin Wetlands starting from Xiaochaidan area in Xiangride Township in the east, passing through Balong Township, Zongjia Township, and reaching Nuomuhong Township in the west, with the range of Qaidam River, Harawusu and Suringol River , Mongol River, Tianger River, Hobson Lake in the north and south and the surrounding wetlands. There are limestones, red ducks, black-necked cranes, white swans, red-headed pochard, red-nosed ducks, bullhead shrike, and black-browed reeds in the wet areas. There are more than 30 species of wetland dependent birds such as warbler.
Reshui ancient tomb groups There are more than 2,000 large and small tombs in the Reshui ancient Tombs groups. The unearthed cultural relics are very rich, among which brocade socks and silk fabrics are extremely precious. They were one of the ten major archeological discoveries in China in 1996. The Xuewei No. 1 tomb is located on the platform of the alluvial fan on the northern bank of the Chahan Wusu River. It is regareded as one of the top ten ancient tombs in China. It has been listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit
Geography and climate
Dulan County is located in the southeastern part of the Qaidam Basin, and its terrain slopes from southeast to northwest. The whole territory can be divided into two types of landforms: Hanbuda Mountain and Qaidam Basin Plain. The topography of Gobi, desert, valley, river and lake, hills, plateau, and mountain are distributed in sequence. There are more than 40 large and small rivers such as Shaliu River, Toso River and Chahanwusu River in the territory.
It has a plateau dry continental climate, with an average annual temperature of 2.7°C, the lowest extreme temperature of -29.8°C, and the highest extreme temperature of 33°C. The average annual precipitation is 179.1 mm. The western part of the county is arid and drier, with sufficient sunshine, and the eastern part has a cool climate with large temperature difference between day and night. The annual average temperature is 1.4-5.1℃, and the annual sunshine hours are 2903.9-3252.5 hours.
Population and ethnic groups
As of 2013, Dulan County has a total population of nearly 100,000 people, consisting of 19 ethnic groups including Mongolian, Tibetan, Han, Hui, Tu, and Salar.
Brief history
From the Qin Dynasty to the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Dulan belonged to the white orchid and Qiang pasture of Xiqiang.
In the 4th year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty (AD 4), Dulan was under the jurisdiction of the Han Dynasty.
From the 4th to the 7th century AD, it was the territory of Tuyuhun Dynasty, which was later annexed by Tubo kingdom.
From the 13th century (Yuan Dynasty), Dulan was the grazing land of the East Mongolia tribes.
In the 6th year of the Republic of China (1917), Dulan area was under jurisdiction of Gansu Province.
In the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), it was changed to Dulan County.
In 1952, the Dulan Autonomous Region was reorganized.
In 1955, it was changed to Dulan County
