Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, formerly known as Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture[2] (Chinese: 海南藏族自治州; Tibetan: མཚོ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་), is an autonomous prefecture of Northeastern Qinghai Province in Western China. The prefecture has an area of 45,895 square kilometres (17,720 sq mi) and its seat is located in Gonghe County. Its name literally means "south of (Qinghai) Lake."[3]

Hainan Prefecture
海南州 · མཚོ་ལྷོ་ཁུལ།
海南藏族自治州 · མཚོ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ
Qinghai Lake
Location of Hainan Prefecture in Qinghai
Location of Hainan Prefecture in Qinghai
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceQinghai
Named forSouth of Qinghai Lake
Prefecture seatGonghe County (Qabqa)
Area
 • Autonomous prefecture44,546.21 km2 (17,199.39 sq mi)
 • Water2,981.55 km2 (1,151.18 sq mi)
Highest elevation
5,305 m (17,405 ft)
Lowest elevation
2,168 m (7,113 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Autonomous prefecture446,996
 • Density10/km2 (26/sq mi)
 • Rural
267,100
GDP[1]
 • Autonomous prefectureCN¥ 14.0 billion
US$ 2.3 billion
 • Per capitaCN¥ 30,379
US$ 4,878
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
ISO 3166 codeCN-QH-25
Websitewww.hainanzhou.gov.cn
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Chinese name
Chinese海南藏族自治州
Tibetan name
Tibetanམཚོ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ

History edit

The land of Hainan prefecture was originally inhabited by the Qiang and Rong people. During the Western Han it was incorporated in the Chinese dynasties. In 60 BC, Guide County was established, then called Guan County. It was governed under Jincheng (present day Lanzhou).[3]

Demographics edit

In 2019, the prefecture had 478,000 inhabitants, with 331,995 belonging to ethnic minorities. The following is a list of ethnic groups in the prefecture, as of 2019.[4]

Ethnicity Population Percentage
Tibetan 326,600 68.3%
Han 129,000 21.5%
Hui 37,100 7.8%
Tu 5,700 1.2%
Mongol 3,700 0.8%
Salar 1,300 0.3%

Administrative divisions edit

Hainan Prefecture was established in 1953.[5] The prefecture is subdivided into 5 county-level divisions (5 counties):

Map
Name Hanzi Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie
Tibetan Pinyin
Population
(2010 Census)
Area (km2) Density
(/km2)
Gonghe County 共和县 Gònghé Xiàn གསེར་ཆེན་རྫོང་ gser chen rdzong
Gêrqên Zong
122,966 16,050 7.66
Tongde County 同德县 Tóngdé Xiàn འབའ་རྫོང་ 'ba' rdzong
Pa Zong
64,369 6,494 9.91
Guide County 贵德县 Guìdé Xiàn ཁྲི་ཀ་རྫོང་ thri ka rdzong
Triga Zong
101,771 3,600 28.26
Xinghai County 兴海县 Xīnghǎi Xiàn བྲག་དཀར་རྫོང་ brag dkar rdzong
Zhag'gar Zong
76,025 13,158 5.77
Guinan County 贵南县 Guìnán Xiàn མང་རྫོང་ mang rdzong
Mang Zong
76,560 6,593 11.61

Geography edit

Hainan is rather mountainous, with the Gonghe basin in the middle of the area. The elevation ranges from 5305 m to 2168 m, averaging 3000 m. The largest lake is Qinghai Lake, and the prefecture is traversed by the Yellow River.

Most of the land, 78.67%, is natural grassland used for grazing. 2.19% is cultivated for agriculture, 4.14% is forest, 6.69% is covered by water and rivers, 0.53% by residential area and industry and the remaining 7.7% consists of barren areas such as glaciers, swamps and desert.[3]

Economy edit

Hainan's economy is specialized in animal husbandry, hydropower and tourism.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ 青海省统计局、国家统计局青海调查总队 (August 2016). 《青海统计年鉴-2016》. 中国统计出版社. ISBN 978-7-5037-7834-6. Archived from the original on 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
  2. ^ Committee, Canada Tibet. "Canada Tibet Committee | Library | WTN | Archive | Old". www.tibet.ca. Retrieved 2017-07-14.
  3. ^ a b c d "青海海南藏族自治州". National Ethnic Affairs Commission.
  4. ^ "海南州政府网-走进海南". www.hainanzhou.gov.cn. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  5. ^ 中国民族经济 (in Chinese). 中国统计出版社. 1993.

Further reading edit

  • A. Gruschke: The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Amdo - Volume 1. The Qinghai Part of Amdo, White Lotus Press, Bangkok 2001. ISBN 974-480-049-6
  • Tsering Shakya: The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947, London 1999, ISBN 0-14-019615-3

External links edit


36°17′N 100°37′E / 36.29°N 100.62°E / 36.29; 100.62