Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Haixi Prefecture
—  Autonomous Prefecture  —
海西蒙古族藏族自治州 ᠬᠠᠶᠢᠰᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠲᠥᠪᠡᠳ ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠲᠡᠨ ᠦ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ
Chinese transcription(s)
– Chinese characters	海西蒙古族藏族自治州
– Hanyu pinyin	Hǎixī Měnggǔzú Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu
Tibetan transcription(s)
– Tibetan script	མཚོ་ནུབ་སོག་རིགས་ཆ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་
– Wylie	Mtsho-nub Sog-rigs dang Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul
– Tibetan pinyin	Conub Sogrig Poirig Ranggyong Kü
Location of the prefecture within Qinghai
Coordinates: 37°24′N 97°24′E / 37.4°N 97.4°E / 37.4; 97.4Coordinates: 37°24′N 97°24′E / 37.4°N 97.4°E / 37.4; 97.4
Country	China
Province	Qinghai
Prefecture Seat	Delingha
Area
– Total	325,785 km2 (125,786.3 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
– Total	489,338
– Density	1.5/km2 (3.9/sq mi)
– Major Ethnic Groups	Han-64.95% Tibetan-12.16% Hui-11.94% Mongols- 7.23%
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	817000
Area code(s)	0977
Website	http://www.haixi.gov.cn/

Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in northern Qinghai province of Western China. It has an area of 325,785 square kilometres (125,786 sq mi) and its capital is Delingha. The name of the prefecture literally means "west of Qinghai Lake."

Geladandong Mountain, the source of the Yangtze River, is located here.

History

After 1949, the People's Government of Dulan County was founded and the area was renamed Dulan Autonomous District (都兰自治区); in 1954, Dulan was renamed Haixi Mongol, Tibetan and Kazakh Autonomous District (海西蒙藏哈萨克族自治区) and in 1955, Haixi Mongol, Tibetan and Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (海西蒙藏哈萨克族自治州). In 1963, it was renamed "海西蒙古族藏族哈萨克族自治州" (English the same, "蒙藏哈萨克族"->"蒙古族藏族哈萨克族"). In 1985, after the Kazakhs had returned to Xinjiang, it was again renamed Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.^[2]

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, Haixi had 489,338 inhabitants, giving it a population density of 1.5 inhabitants per km².

The following is a list of ethnic groups in the prefecture, taken in the 2000 Census

Nationality	Population	Percentage
Han	215,706	64.95%
Tibetan	40,371	12.16%
Hui	39,644	11.94%
Mongol	24,020	7.23%
Tu	5,792	1.74%
Salar	3,569	1.07%
Dongxiang	1,026	0.31%
Manchu	544	0.16%
Tujia	422	0.13%
Kazakh	380	0.11%
Others	620	0.2%

Subdivisions

Haixi directly governs 2 county-level cities and 3 counties.

Map
#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Tibetan	Wylie	Population (2010)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
1	Delingha City	德令哈市	Délìnghā Shì			78,184	27,613	2.83
2	Golmud City	格尔木市	Gé'ěrmù Shì	ན་གོར་མོ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་	na gor mo grong khyer	215,213	123,460	1.74
3	Wulan County	乌兰县	Wūlán Xiàn	ཝུའུ་ལན་རྫོང་	wu'u lan rdzong	38,723	10,784	3.59
4	Dulan County	都兰县	Dūlán Xiàn	ཏུའུ་ལན་རྫོང་	tu'u lan rdzong	76,623	50,000	1.53
5	Tianjun County	天峻县	Tiānjùn Xiàn	ཐེན་ཅུན་རྫོང་	then cun rdzong	33,923	20,000	1.70
6	Lenghu Administrative Committee	冷湖行政委员会	Lěnghú Xíngzhèng Wěiyuánhuì			2,434	21,000	0.12
7	Da Qaidam Administrative committee	大柴旦行政委员会	Dàcháidàn Xíngzhèng Wěiyuánhuì			13,671	34,000	0.40
8	Magnya Administrative committee	茫崖行政委员会	Mángyá Xíngzhèng Wěiyuánhuì			31,017	32,000	0.97

The southwestern exclave of the Haixi Prefecture, separated from the rest of the prefecture by a "panhandle" of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is the Tanggulashan Town of Golmud City.

Gallery

A picture taken in the southwestern part of the prefecture   The Qingzang Railway can be seen on the far left

Notable Features

• Delingha city
• Geladandong mountain
• Headwaters of the Yangtze River
• The Baigong Pipes

Notes

1. ^ According to 2010 China National Census
2. ^ 海西州 (青海省民政厅网站).
   For details, see: 海西蒙古族藏族自治州 (行政区划网站).

Further reading

• A. Gruschke: The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Amdo - Volume 1. The Qinghai Part of Amdo, White Lotus Press, Bangkok 2001. ISBN 974-480-049-6
• Tsering Shakya: The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947, London 1999, ISBN 0-14-019615-3

External links

• Official website of Haixi Government