Haixi Mongol And Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (海西蒙古族藏族自治州)

1. Introduction

Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠶᠢᠰᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠲᠥᠪᠡᠳ ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠲᠡᠨ ᠦ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ, Cyrillic: Хайши Монгол Төвөдийн өөртөө засах тойрог, Tibetan: མཚོ་ནུབ་སོག་རིགས་ཆ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ།, Wylie: mtsho-nub sog-rigs bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul, Tibetan Pinyin: Conub Sogrig Poirig Ranggyong Kü), abbreviated as Haixi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture under the jurisdiction of Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China. It is located in the western part of Qinghai Province and is named for being situated to the west of Qinghai Lake. The prefecture borders Haibei Prefecture to the northeast, Hainan Prefecture to the east, Golog Prefecture to the southeast, Yushu Prefecture to the south, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang to the west, and Jiuquan City and Zhangye City of Gansu Province to the north. The Tanggula Mountain Town in the southwestern corner of the provincial border is administered by Haixi Prefecture, forming an exclave adjacent to Nagqu City in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Situated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, its northern part consists of the Altun Mountains and Qilian Mountains, the central part is the Qaidam Basin, and the southern part is the Kunlun Mountains. The southern edge of Tanggula Mountain Town is formed by the Tanggula Mountains. The region is rich in water resources. The Tuotuo River, the primary source of the Yangtze River, originates from the Geladandong Peak, the main peak of the Tanggula Mountains. There are also numerous inland rivers such as the Nalinggele River, Haerteng River, Golmud River, Qaidam River, Buha River, Dulan River, and Shule River. The prefecture boasts many lakes, including Tuosu Lake, Dabuxun Lake, Sugan Lake, East Taijinar Lake, West Taijinar Lake, South Huoluxun Lake, and North Huoluxun Lake, as well as salt lakes like Qarhan Salt Lake, Chaka Salt Lake, and Keke Salt Lake, with Qarhan Salt Lake being the largest salt lake in China. The total area of the prefecture is 300,900 square kilometers, with a total population of approximately 410,000. The Han, Hui, Mongol, and Tibetan ethnic groups account for 66.01%, 13.45%, 5.53%, and 10.93% of the population respectively. The prefecture capital is located at No. 16 Wulan East Road, Delingha City.

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2. History

In the fourth year of the Yuanshi era of Emperor Ping of Han (4 AD), Wang Mang established the Xihai Commandery, with the eastern part of present-day Haixi falling under its jurisdiction. During the Jin Dynasty, the territory came under the control of the Tuyuhun. In the fifth year of the Daye era of the Sui Dynasty (609 AD), the Sui army defeated the Tuyuhun and established four commanderies in the region, with the eastern part under the Xihai Commandery and the western part under the Shanshan Commandery. In the third year of the Longshuo era of the Tang Dynasty (663 AD), the Tibetan Empire conquered the Tuyuhun and occupied the area; present-day Haixi Prefecture was once subordinate to the Tibetan Lacheng Military Commissioner. During the Yuan Dynasty, it was under the jurisdiction of the Xuanwei Si for Tibet and other areas and the Shazhou Route of the Gansu and other areas Branch Secretariat. In the early Ming Dynasty, the four garrisons of Anding, Arui, Quxian, and Handong were established, known as the Four Outer Garrisons, administered by the Xining Garrison. In the third year of the Yongzheng era of the Qing Dynasty (1725), it came under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Commissioner for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs in Qinghai.

• In the 6th year of the Republic of China (1917), it was governed by the Dulan Administrative Office.
• In the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), the Dulan Administrative Office was changed to Dulan County, which covered the entire area of present-day Haixi Prefecture and was subordinate to Qinghai Province.
• In the 27th year of the Republic of China (1938), the Eighth Administrative Inspectorate of Qinghai Province was established in present-day Dulan County.
• In the 30th year of the Republic of China (1941), it was renamed the First Administrative Inspectorate of Qinghai Province.
• In the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), the Xiangde Administrative Bureau was established from Dulan County, with its seat in present-day Xiangride Town, Dulan County.
• In the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946), the Xiangde Administrative Bureau was abolished.
• In 1952, Dulan County was reorganized into the Dulan Autonomous Region.
• In 1953, the Tianjun Tibetan Autonomous Region was established.
• On August 8, 1954, the Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous Region was established, with its seat in Chahanwusu.
• On December 12, 1955, it was renamed the Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. In the same year, the Dulan Autonomous Region was changed to Dulan County, and the Tianjun Tibetan Autonomous Region was changed to Tianjun County.
• In 1959, the prefectural capital moved to Da Qaidam, and in the same year, Ulan County was established.
• In 1963, the autonomous prefecture was renamed the Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, and the capital was relocated again to Delingha.
• In June 1980, Golmud County was reorganized into Golmud City.
• On May 21, 1985, it was renamed the Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
• On April 19, 1988, Delingha City was established.
• On February 22, 2018, the former Mangya Administrative Committee and Lenghu Administrative Committee merged to establish Mangya City.

3. Geography

The territory of Haixi Prefecture primarily consists of two parts: the Qaidam Basin, encircled by the Kunlun Mountains, Altun Mountains, and Qilian Mountains, and the plateau at the northern foot of the Tanggula Mountains. The main body is the Qaidam Basin, with an average elevation of 3,000 meters. The Qaidam Basin features five geomorphic types arranged concentrically from the edge to the center: high mountains, hills, Gobi desert, plains, and lakes/marshes. The terrain is higher in the northwest and lower in the southeast. The southern part of the basin contains numerous saltwater lakes and saline-alkali marshes, with large areas of crescent-shaped dunes and dune chains distributed throughout. The northern part of the basin is intermittently traversed by mountain ranges such as the Saishiteng Mountains, Lüliang Mountains, Xitie Mountains, and Yak Mountains, which divide the northern basin into smaller intermountain basins and valleys like Huahaizi, Mahai, Da Qaidam, Xiao Qaidam, Delingha, and Xiligou. The Tanggula region along the southern border of the prefecture mostly lies above 4,500 meters in elevation.

The Haixi Corridor is located west of Qinghai Lake, between the Qilian Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains. It traverses the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province, China, starting from Xining City in Qinghai Province in the east and connecting to the Ruoqiang area in Southern Xinjiang via the Mangya area in Qinghai Province. It is one of the important passages connecting inland China with Southern Xinjiang and also a significant route of the ancient Silk Road. Therefore, it is as renowned as the famous Hexi Corridor, forming a crucial land gateway linking inland China to western Xinjiang, and even to Central Asia, West Asia, and European countries.

Haixi Prefecture features a typical high-altitude, cold, and dry continental climate, with elevations ranging from 2,675 to 6,860 meters. Due to its deep inland location and surrounding high mountains, warm and moist air currents from the southwest struggle to reach the area, resulting in scarce precipitation and an arid climate. The basin area generally lies between 2,700 and 3,200 meters above sea level, which is considered relatively low within Qinghai Province, leading to comparatively higher temperatures within the province. The mountainous areas surrounding the basin are frigid zones, characterized by high elevations and a cold climate. The main characteristics of precipitation in Haixi Prefecture are few precipitation days and low precipitation amounts. The annual average wind speed varies across the prefecture due to topographic influences. It is generally 3-4 m/s in the basin, while in the mountainous areas, the annual average wind speed exceeds 4 m/s.

Meteorological Data for Delingha City

| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|------|------|------|------| | Avg high °C (°F) | -3.7 (25.3) | 0.7 (33.3) | 6.7 (44.1) | 12.9 (55.2) | 17.8 (64.0) | 20.7 (69.3) | 23.1 (73.6) | 23.0 (73.4) | 18.3 (64.9) | 11.5 (52.7) | 3.7 (38.7) | -1.6 (29.1) | 11.1 (52.0) | | Daily mean °C (°F) | -10.9 (12.4) | -6.6 (20.1) | -0.5 (31.1) | 5.6 (42.1) | 11.0 (51.8) | 14.2 (57.6) | 16.5 (61.7) | 16.1 (61.0) | 11.2 (52.2) | 3.9 (39.0) | -3.8 (25.2) | -9.2 (15.4) | 4.0 (39.1) | | Avg low °C (°F) | -16.8 (1.8) | -12.8 (9.0) | -7.0 (19.4) | -1.2 (29.8) | 4.5 (40.1) | 8.2 (46.8) | 10.7 (51.3) | 10.2 (50.4) | 5.2 (41.4) | -2.0 (28.4) | -9.4 (15.1) | -14.9 (5.2) | -2.1 (28.2) | | Avg precip. mm (inches) | 4.0 (0.16) | 2.9 (0.11) | 4.6 (0.18) | 6.5 (0.26) | 21.2 (0.83) | 38.4 (1.51) | 40.9 (1.61) | 31.4 (1.24) | 17.6 (0.69) | 6.4 (0.25) | 1.2 (0.05) | 2.4 (0.09) | 177.5 (6.98) |

4. Administrative Divisions

Haixi Prefecture administers 3 county-level cities, 3 counties, and 1 administrative committee.

• County-level cities: Delingha City, Golmud City, Mangya City
• Counties: Ulan County, Dulan County, Tianjun County
• Administrative Committee: Da Qaidam Administrative Committee

| Division Code | Division Name Mongolian Tibetan | Hanyu Pinyin Latin Transliteration Tibetan Pinyin Wylie Transliteration | Area (km²) | Resident Population (2020 Census) | Government Seat | Postal Code | Subdistricts | Towns | Townships | |---------------|----------|---------------------|--------------|-------------------------------------|-------------|----------|------------------| ------------------| ------------------| | 632800 | Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ᠬᠠᠶᠢᠰᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠲᠥᠪᠡᠳ ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠲᠡᠨ ᠦ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ མཚོ་ནུབ་སོག་རིགས་ བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ། | Hǎixī Měnggǔzú Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu Haisi-yin mongγol töbed ündüsüten-ü öbertegen ǰasaqu ǰëü Conub Sogrig Poirig Ranggyong Kü mtsho nub sog rigs bod rigs rang skyong khul | 300,854.48 | 468,216 | Delingha City | 817000 | 8 | 21 | 14 | | 632801 | Golmud City ᠭᠣᠣᠯᠮᠣᠳ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ ན་གོར་མོ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | Gé'ěrmù Shì Γool modu qota Nakormo Chongkyêr na gor mo grong khyer | 119,173.50 | 221,863 | Kunlun Road Subdistrict | 816000 | 5 | 2 | 2 | | 632802 | Delingha City ᠳᠡᠯᠡᠬᠡᠢ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ གཏེར་ལེན་ཁ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | Délìnghā Shì Delekei qota Dêrlênka Chongkyêr gter len kha grong khyer | 27,765.20 | 88,227 | Hexi Subdistrict | 817000 | 3 | 3 | 1 | | 632803 | Mangya City ᠮᠠᠩᠨᠠᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ མང་ནེ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | Mángyá Shì Mangnai-yin qota Mangnai Chongkyêr mang ne grong khyer | 49,889.94 | 18,856 | Huatugou Town | 816400 | | 3 | | | 632821 | Ulan County ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ ཝུའུ་ལན་རྫོང་། | Wūlán Xiàn Ulaγan siyan Wu'ulain Zong wu'u lan rdzong | 12,249.76 | 31,507 | Xiligou Town | 817100 | | 4 | | | 632822 | Dulan County ᠳᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ ཏུའུ་ལན་རྫོང་། | Dūlán Xiàn Dulaγan siyan Tu'ulain Zong tu'u lan rdzong | 45,264.61 | 68,273 | Chahan Us Town | 816100 | | 4 | 4 | | 632823 | Tianjun County ᠲᠢᠶᠡᠨ ᠵᠢᠶᠦ᠋ᠨ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ ཐེམ་ཆེན་རྫོང་། | Tiānjùn Xiàn Tiyen ǰiyün siyan Têncün Zong them chen rdzong | 25,612.63 | 23,203 | Xinyuan Town | 817200 | | 3 | 7 | | 632857 | Da Qaidam Administrative Committee ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠶᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠦᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ ᠵᠠᠬᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨ ᠦ ᠵᠥᠪᠯᠡᠯ ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་ སྲིད་འཛིན་ཨུ་ཡོན་ལྷན་ཁང་། | Dàcháidàn Xíngzhèng Wěiyuánhuì Yeke čayidam-un ǰasaγ ǰaqiraγan-ü ǰöblel tshwa 'dam che ba'i srid 'dzin u yon lhan khang | 20,898.85 | 16,287 | Qaidam Town | 816200 | | 2 | |

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5. Education

• Qinghai Qaidam Vocational and Technical College

6. Population

At the end of 2022, the registered population of the entire prefecture was 403,100, a decrease of 400 from the end of the previous year. By urban-rural division, the rural registered population was 121,700, a decrease of 2,700; the urban registered population was 281,400, an increase of 2,300, accounting for 69.8% of the prefecture's registered population (urbanization rate of registered population), an increase of 0.65 percentage points from the end of the previous year. The male population was 204,500, a decrease of 300; the female population was 198,600, a decrease of 100. The annual birth rate was 7.97‰, a decrease of 3.06 per thousand points from the previous year; the mortality rate was 5.15‰, a decrease of 0.72 per thousand points from the previous year. The annual natural population growth rate was 2.82‰, a decrease of 2.34 per thousand points from the previous year.

According to the Seventh National Population Census in 2020, the permanent resident population of the entire prefecture was 468,216. Compared with the 489,338 from the Sixth National Population Census, the population decreased by 21,122 over the ten years, a decline of 4.32%, with an average annual growth rate of -0.44%. Among them, the male population was 256,282, accounting for 54.74% of the total population; the female population was 211,934, accounting for 45.26% of the total population. The sex ratio of the total population (with females as 100) was 120.93. The population aged 0-14 was 87,315, accounting for 18.65% of the total population; the population aged 15-59 was 347,486, accounting for 74.21% of the total population; the population aged 60 and above was 33,415, accounting for 7.14% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 and above was 22,193, accounting for 4.74% of the total population. The population residing in urban areas was 358,498, accounting for 76.57% of the total population; the population residing in rural areas was 109,718, accounting for 23.43% of the total population.

6.1. Ethnic Groups

Among the permanent resident population, the Han population was 277,348, accounting for 59.24%; the total population of various ethnic minorities was 190,868, accounting for 40.76%. Among them: Mongolians numbered 23,839, accounting for 5.09%; Tibetans numbered 57,735, accounting for 12.33%; Hui people numbered 83,488, accounting for 17.83%; Tu people numbered 11,287, accounting for 2.41%; Salar people numbered 5,029, accounting for 1.07%; other ethnic minorities numbered 9,490, accounting for 2.03%. Compared with the Sixth National Population Census in 2010, the Han population decreased by 45,649, a decline of 14.13%, with its proportion of the total population decreasing by 6.77 percentage points; the total population of various ethnic minorities increased by 24,527, an increase of 14.75%, with its proportion of the total population increasing by 6.77 percentage points. Among them, the Mongolian population decreased by 3,204, a decline of 11.85%, with its proportion of the total population decreasing by 0.43 percentage points; the Tibetan population increased by 4,237, an increase of 7.92%, with its proportion of the total population increasing by 1.4 percentage points; the Hui population increased by 17,660, an increase of 26.83%, with its proportion of the total population increasing by 4.38 percentage points.

Ethnic Composition of Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (November 2020)

| Ethnic Group | Han | Hui | Tibetan | Mongolian | Tu | Dongxiang | Salar | Tujia | Manchu | Kazakh | Other Ethnicities | |------------------|---------|--------|----------|------------|-------|-------------|---------|---------|----------|------------|---------------------| | Population | 277,348 | 83,488 | 57,735 | 23,839 | 11,287| 5,489 | 5,029 | 1,720 | 573 | 552 | 1,156 | | Percentage of Total Population (%) | 59.24 | 17.83 | 12.33 | 5.09 | 2.41 | 1.17 | 1.07 | 0.37 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.25 | | Percentage of Minority Population (%) | - | 43.74 | 30.25 | 12.49 | 5.91 | 2.88 | 2.63 | 0.90 | 0.30 | 0.29 | 0.61 |

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Delingha City

Golmud City

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