Amazing roads China | Desert highway in Qinghai province...

This desert highway in Haixi Prefecture 海西州 - ᠬᠠᠶᠢᠰᠢ ‍ᠶᠢᠨ ᠵᠧᠦ - མཚོ་ནུབ་ཁུལ། Qinghai province

has become popular with tourists in recent years for its dramatic scenery,

especially during the regular sandstorms.

Haixi Prefecture, full name "Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture" (海西蒙古族藏族自治州) is the largest prefecture in Qinghai province, divided in two separate parts and occupying most of the province's north and west. The north part borders Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west and Gansu province in the north while the south part borders Tibet Autonomous Region.

At a size of 325,000km2, the prefecture is somewhat smaller than Germany and has a population of only 515,000 (2017) of which almost 100,000 are living in the prefecture capital Delingha. The largest city in Haixi is Golmud with a population of about 225,000. Most prominent ethnic groups living in Haixi, literally "West of (Qinghai) lake" are Han 66%, Hui muslim 13.5%, Tibetan 11% and Mongol 5.5%.

The prefecture is home to the source of the Yangtze river and the Geladandong Mountains 各拉丹冬 in the prefecture's south-west with the massif having more than 20 peaks over 6,000 meters.

The large Qaidam bassin in the north of Haixi has distinctive landscapes of high grasslands, salt lakes and deserts including the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve with a size of 45,000 km2 at an average elevation of 4,800 metres above sea level without a single harded road. Sometimes called "no man's land", a haven for wildlife and ecological protection with more than 230 species of wild animals such as the wild yak, wild donkey, white-lip deer, brown bear and the Tibetan antelope.

Hoh Xil was listed as Unesco World Heritage Site in 2017 being "the largest and highest plateau in the world" with a unique biodiversity.

#qinghai #hohxil #haixi #unesco

pictures : wikipedia, xinhua

video : douyin