Golmud, also
known by various other romanizations, is a
county-level city in the
Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of
Qinghai Province
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the
Tibetan Plateau (after
Xining and
Lhasa). The population in 2020 is 221,863.
Name
''Golmud'' is a
romanization of a
Mongolian word meaning "rivers". ''Ge'ermu'' is the
pinyin romanization of the
Mandarin pronunciation of the same name's
transcription into Chinese characters; it is sometimes misspelled ''Geermu''. ''Ko-erh-mu'' was the same name romanized using the
Wade–Giles system; ''Golmot'' was the romanization used by the
Chinese Postal Map
The history of the postage stamps and postal history of China is complicated by the gradual decay of Imperial China and the years of civil war and Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s. In modern times, postal delivery is handled by China ...
. The
Wylie romanization of the
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...
form of the name is ''Nagormo''.
Geography
Golmud is part of
Haixi Prefecture in western
Qinghai Province
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
. Despite being nominally a "city", the built-up urban area of Golmud comprises only of the county's . Most of the county lies in the southern
Qaidam Basin and in the foothills of the
Kunlun Mountains. A large southern
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
is administered as the "
town" of
Tanggula
The Tanggula (Chinese: , p ''Tánggǔlāshān'', or , p ''Tánggǔlāshānmài''), Tangla, Tanglha, or Dangla Mountains (Tibetan: , w ''Gdang La'', z ''Dang La'') are a mountain range in the central part of the Q ...
, separated from the rest of the county by the western panhandle of the
Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (, , retranscribed into Tibetan as ), also transliterated as Yüxü or Yulshul, is an autonomous prefecture of Southwestern Qinghai Province, China. Largely inhabited by Tibetans, the prefecture has an area of ...
. The northern part borders
Xinjiang to its northwest; the southern exclave borders the
Tibetan Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...
to its southwest.
Golmud proper is at an elevation of . It grew up alongside the
Golmud River, which gave it its name.
North of Golmud is the
Qarhan Playa
The Qarhan Playa or also misleadingly described as , is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections ( Dabu ...
, a
salt flat with about ten perennial
salt lakes. The largest is
Dabusun Lake
Dabusun or alternately known as is a lake beside the town Qarhan, just north of Golmud in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province in northwestern China. Fed by the main course of the Golmud River, it is the largest present-day lake in the ...
, which receives the waters of the Golmud. The more important smaller lakes are
Suli,
South Suli,
Dabiele,
Xiaobiele,
Tuanjie,
Xiezuo,
Dongling, and
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
and
South Hulsan, which receive the waters of smaller inflowing streams. Qarhan is part of the larger
Sanhu Depression
The Qarhan Playa or also misleadingly described as , is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections ( Dabu ...
, which includes
East and
West Taijinar Lakes. Other major lakes in the southern exclave of Golmud include ()
[, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency] and (, ).
[, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]
Climate
Golmud has a cold
arid climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''
BWk
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
''), with long, cold winters, and warm summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to in January and rises to in July, while the annual mean is . Precipitation is very low, totaling only per annum, falling on 28 days, most of which are during the summer.
Relative humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depen ...
averages only 32%, with all months below 40%, some of the lowest levels nationally. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 62% in July to 81% in November, the city receives 3,096 hours of bright sunshine annually.
History
Golmud is a rather young city. It was first established in 1954 when the Transportation regiments of Qinghai-Tibet Corps set up a food distribution base, manned by 10 people, at the current location, and in May of that year, construction on the
Qinghai-Tibet Highway commenced.
Scientific exploration of the mineral resources of
Qarhan were undertaken in the 1950s, leading to the discovery of the area's
potash and
gas fields. Systematic surveying was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s, with the railway permitting industrial exploitation from the 1980s. The first oil pipeline and potassium fertilizer factory were opened in 1989. The
Golmud Kunlun Economic Development Zone was opened in 1992. In 2004, a second pipeline arrived. In the 2010s, an influx of further investment followed realization of the importance of the
Sanhu
The ''sanhu'' proper (Chinese: 三 胡; pinyin: sānhú) is a Chinese bowed musical instrument with three strings. It was developed in the 1970s and is essentially a three-stringed version of the two-stringed ''erhu'', with an additional bass str ...
's supplies of
lithium and
rare earths for modern personal electronics and electric cars. In 2016, over 85% of goods movement with Tibet passed through Golmud.
Administrative divisions
Subdistricts:
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
Towns:
*
Tanggula
The Tanggula (Chinese: , p ''Tánggǔlāshān'', or , p ''Tánggǔlāshānmài''), Tangla, Tanglha, or Dangla Mountains (Tibetan: , w ''Gdang La'', z ''Dang La'') are a mountain range in the central part of the Q ...
(གདང་ལ་, )
* ()
Townships:
* ()
* ()
Demographics
In 2017, the population of the total area of Golmud was approximately 240,494. A 2018 publication by the
National Ethnic Affairs Commission reported that ethnic
Han Chinese comprise 69.82% of the city's population, and
minority ethnic groups comprise 30.18%.
The city's is home to 33 ethnic minorities, of which, the largest are the
Mongols,
Tibetans, and
Hui people.
Economy
The
Qarhan Playa
The Qarhan Playa or also misleadingly described as , is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections ( Dabu ...
has China's largest reserves of
salt,
potassium, and
magnesium,
[ as well as other valuable minerals. Taken together, the mineral resources in the playa were estimated to be worth over 15 trillion ]renminbi
The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
(RMB) as of 2002.[.] The area's salt has also trapped valuable hydrocarbons. The Sebei-1 and Sebei-2 fields near Suli Lake
Suli or Senie Lake is a lake in the western Qarhan Playa north of Golmud in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province in northwestern China. It is fed from the west by the Urt Moron River. Like the other lakes of the surrounding Qaidam Basin, it ...
are also China's 4th-largest onshore reserves of natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...
and the entire area may have reserves as high as 1 trillion m³ (35 trillion cu. ft.).[ The larger ]Sanhu Depression
The Qarhan Playa or also misleadingly described as , is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections ( Dabu ...
includes East and West Taijinar, which hold China's largest reserves of lithium.
The surrounding countryside also produces gold, copper, jade, lead, and zinc.[
A pipeline delivers crude oil from Huatugou Oilfield to a refinery at Golmud. The refinery has a capacity of 1 million metric tons a year; is able to produce 100,000 metric tons a year of methanol and 20,000 MT/yr of polypropylene; and has a 100,000 MT/yr gas fractionator.
According to the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, the per capita disposable income in Golmud was 6,852 yuan in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.3% increase from the one year prior.] Golmud has been one of the areas included in China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation program, which the Commission states has entailed the reconstruction of houses in the city with subpar living conditions, and subsidizing low-income students in the city. The Commission also states that the government has been developing the production of traditional woodworking, embroidery, and other local crafts through designated "demonstration areas" ().
Statistics for 2001 show that the city's nominal GDP totaled 2.213 billion RMB, a rise of 31.9% from the previous year and the highest growth rate since 1990.
Transportation
Railway
Golmud lies along the Qinghai–Tibet railway, a railway that starts from Xining and ends at Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Golmud-Lhasa section, with a length of , was the last and most challenging part of the railway to be completed. After five years of construction, the first train for Lhasa left Golmud on 1 July 2006.
In October 2012 construction started on the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway. It will actually branch off the Qinghai–Tibet Railway at the Yinmaxia station north of Golmud, and will cross the Qaidam Basin and the Altyn-Tagh
Altyn-Tagh (also Altun Mountains, Altun Shan; , Pinyin: ''A'erjin Shan'', Wade–Giles: ''A-erh-chin Shan;'' Uyghur'':ئالتۇن تاغ'') is a mountain range in Northwestern China that separates the Eastern Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Platea ...
/ Qilian system on the way to Dunhuang in the neighboring Gansu province.
The Golmud-Korla Railway running north west from Golmud into Korla, Xinjiang began construction in November 2014 and was completed in 2020.
Highways
*The Golmud-Lhasa highway, extending , is part of the 1,930-km Qinghai-Tibet highway (China National Highway 109
China National Highway 109 connects Beijing with Lhasa. It runs westwards from Beijing via Datong, Yinchuan and Xining to Golmud before turning southwest to Lhasa. The portion of the highway from Xining to Lhasa is known as the Qinghai-Tibet Hig ...
) connecting Xining and Lhasa.
* China National Highway 215, runs north from Golmud to Dunhuang, Gansu
Airport
* Golmud Airport
Twin cities
* Bharatpur, Nepal
* Dobrich, Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
* Kiryat Malakhi
Kiryat Malakhi ( he, קִרְיַת מַלְאָכִי, also Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi) is a city in the Southern District of Israel, from Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2).
Histor ...
, Israel
In popular culture
The Golmud Railway is featured as an online multiplayer map in the video game ''Battlefield 4
''Battlefield 4'' is a 2013 first-person shooter video game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in October and November for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and is th ...
''.
References
Citations
Bibliography
* .
* .
External links
Official website (Chinese)
{{Authority control
Cities in Qinghai
Populated places in Tibet
Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture