Da Qaidam is an

administrative committee Counties ( zh, t=縣, s=县, hp=Xiàn), formally county-level divisions, are found in the third level of the administrative hierarchy in Provinces and Autonomous regions and the second level in municipalities and Hainan, a level that is known ...

in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern

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 borders

Gansu province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...

to the north. The area administered as is divided between the two

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Qaidam itself also called Xitieshan The former is the seat of 's administration. It lies at an altitude of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Name

''Da Qaidam'' is a combination of the Hanyu Pinyin

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of the

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

pronunciation of (''dà''), the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

word meaning "big" or "greater", and the Zangwen Pinyin

of the Tibetan name (''qaidam''), meaning "

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

marsh" and referencing the surrounding Qaidam Basin. The Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

of Qaidam is "''Cháidàn''".

Geography and climate

Da Qaidam borders

Delingha Delingha (; ), or Delhi ( SASM/GNC/SRC romanization of Mongolian: ''Delhi hot''), is the seat of the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northern Qinghai province, China. It is located approximately southeast of the Da Qaidam Admi ...

to the east, Lenghu to the west,

Golmud Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan Pl ...

across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in i ...

( Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin. Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an

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 deser ...

(

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''), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than higher than Golmud, its climate is also

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

in nature. 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 35 days, most of which are during the summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 65% in July to 82% in October, the area receives 3,257 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Economy

As elsewhere in the Qaidam Basin, mining industries are of major importance in Da Qaidam. There is a lead mine in Xitieshan, the Xitieshan Lead Mine as well as a number of salt lakes where potash and related products are extracted.

Transportation

China National Highway 215 China National Highway 215 (G215) (sometimes referred to as Gansu Provincial Highway 215) runs from Hongliuyuan, Gansu to Yushu, Qinghai. It was originally 641 kilometres in length and ran south from Hongliuyuan towards Golmud. As part of the ...

and China National Highway 315 pass through and meet here. Yinmaxia railway station and Xitieshan railway station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are both located within

References

External links

Official government website
County-level divisions of Qinghai Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture {{Qinghai-geo-stub