You will not believe these canyons of Western China!
Qinghai (青海 Qīnghǎi) is a province in Northwest China. It is located south of the Republic of Mongolia, east of Xinjiang, and north of Tibet. It is one of China's least populous and least densely populated provinces with under six million people in an area somewhat larger than France.
Geographically Qinghai is on the Tibetan Plateau and is the source of several of China's major rivers. The Yellow River (Huang He 黄河) - seen here in the video in the town of GuiDe 贵德 - starts in central Qinghai and flows north and east through much of North China. The Yangtze and the Mekong both also start near the southern edge of Qinghai and flow across Tibet into Yunnan where they are two of the Three parallel rivers, then diverge to flow into different oceans.
Historically, what is now Qinghai was a cultural area with Amdo-speaking Tibetans. Outside of Xining, Tibetans are still the main ethnic and cultural group, but Mongols, Hui (Chinese Muslims) and Han (ethnic Chinese) have been present for centuries and more Han have been moving in over the last few decades, albeit largely concentrated in a small area around the capital Xining.
Qinghai, owing to its location in the heart of China, close to Mongolia and near the Silk Road, is ethnically mixed - Han, Hui, Kazakh, Mongolian, Tibetans, Tu and Salar inhabit the province. Han Chinese are largely concentrated in the eastern part of the province, near the capital Xining, while the rest of the province is sparsely populated and predominantly Tibetan. Most of Qinghai forms the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo. Yushu prefecture, in far southern Qinghai, is a part of the traditional Tibetan province of Kham. Outside the two main cities - Golmud and Xining -- population centers are tiny villages and towns, scattered along the desolate Tibetan Plateau.
Qinghai is perhaps China's most sparsely populated province in western China. The extreme eastern part of the province is less harsh, with two major Tibetan monasteries and the charming capital of Xining. The southern regions of Qinghai sit at an average elevation of over 4000 m (13,120 ft) while the northern regions sit between 2500 m and 3500 m (8200 to 11,500 ft). Qinghai has some of the largest pasturelands in China. Many yaks and sheep are herded by Tibetan and Mongolian nomads. The prefectures of Haidong and Huangnan consist mostly of farming communities. The far northwest region of Qinghai is home to the Chaidam Basin which is one of the largest deserts in China.
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