Full name of Minhe County is Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County; it is also known as “Kamalok County” in Tibetan.
It is located on eastern edge of Qinghai Province. It is connected to Yongdeng County of Gansu Province and Honggu District of Lanzhou City to northeast, Yongjing County of Gansu Province to east, Jishishan County of Gansu Province across Yellow River to south. Its size is of about 96 kilometers long from north to south and 32 kilometers wide from east to west, with a total area of 1891 square kilometers.
It is adjacent to Xunhua County, Hualong County, and Ledu District in west, northwest and north.
Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County is an important grain, vegetable, and fruit production area in Qinghai Province, and enjoys reputation of “Hometown of Melons and Fruits” in whole province. Minhe beef cattle is a local specialty and also a product protected by national geographic indication of agricultural products
Best time to travel From May to October
Local climate Temperate continental climate
Most popular sites
Honghua Temple, also known as “Shangparsi Samten dargyeling”, is Gelug pa monastery. It is located more than 60 kilometers southeast of county seat. It was built in 1443 AD with a history of more than 600 years. It covers an area of nearly 100 acres and has 30 large and small halls.
Geography and climate
Minhe County is a transition zone from Loess Plateau to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Terrain is high in northwest, low in southeast, and mostly high mountains in southwest. The highest altitude is 4220 meters, the lowest is 1650 meters, and average altitude is 2100-2500 meters. There are ravines in its territory, overlapping mountains and complex terrain. In this county, annual average temperature is 9℃, annual precipitation is about 292 mm, and thefrost-free period is 198 days.
Population and ethnic group
As of 2012, total population of county was 428,800. Minhe Hui and Tu Nationality Autonomous County is dominated by Han people, and minority nationalities are mainly Hui, Tu, Tibetan, etc.
Brief history
During Xia, Shang, and Wednesday dynasties, Minhe area was one of habitats of Qiang Rong.
In 221 BC, Qin Dynasty unified ancient China, Minhe area was one of Northwest Frontier under jurisdiction of Longxi County
In 81 BC, Minhe area was part of Jincheng County, which belonged to Lanzhou
From 89 to 104 AD, Longqi City was built in Minhe area.
From 107 to 125 AD, Baitu County was established in Minhe area which was under jurisdiction of Jincheng County.
In 301-302 AD, Jinxing County was established within Minhe area
In Northern Wei Dynasty, Beijincheng County was established within Minhe area, and it was under jurisdiction of Xiping County.
In 553 AD, Beijincheng County was changed to Longzhi County.
In 598 AD, Xidu County was changed to Huangshui County, Northwest of Minhe area was under its jurisdiction
In 763 AD, it was occipied by Tubo kingdom
In 851 AD, Tang dynasty had reclaimed Minhe area
In 1015 AD, Minhe area was again under jurisdiction of Xisilao regime
In 1303 AD, Song Dynasty regained Hehuang area, Minhe area belonged to Huang and Le two states successively.
In Yuan Dynasty, Minhe area belonged to Xining Prefecture.
In 1373 AD, Gushan Qianhu Office was established in Minhe area
From 1403-124 AD, Minhe area was an important trading spot on Tea-horse trading route
From 1573 to 1620 AD, Minhe was key guarding fortress to guard Xining city
In 18th year of Republic of China (1929), Qinghai was established as a province, and Minhe area was under its jurisdiction
In 19th year of Republic of China (1930), Minhe xian was established
In 1985, Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County was established
