Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in China, a saline, closed-basin lake of more than 4,000 km² at about 3,200 metres on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau, west of Xining. It gave its name to the province, is a breeding ground for bar-headed geese and other waterbirds, and has been a Ramsar wetland of international importance since 1992.
- Ramsar site (Bird Island, Qinghai Lake) · 1992
- National nature reserve · 1997
Key facts
Overview
The lake fills a basin between the Datong, Riyue and Qinghai Nanshan ranges. Its Chinese name means “blue-green sea”; the Mongolian name Kökenuur and the Tibetan Tso Ngonpo (མཚོ་སྔོན་པོ) mean “blue lake” as well, and the Mongolian form, as Koko Nor, was long used in Western maps for both the lake and the region.
The water is brackish to salty and has no outlet. Its level fell for much of the twentieth century as rivers were diverted for irrigation and the climate dried, then began to rise again after about 2005 with higher rainfall and glacier melt, so that the lake's area has grown in recent years. Around it lie grasslands grazed by Tibetan and Mongol herders, and in summer fields of yellow rapeseed.
How the landscape formed
Qinghai Lake occupies a fault basin formed as the Tibetan Plateau was uplifted. It once drained east to the Yellow River, but the rise of the Riyue Shan in the late Pleistocene blocked the outlet and turned the lake into a closed basin, in which evaporation slowly concentrated the salts. Inflowing rivers, the largest being the Buha, enter from the west and north. Sand dunes line parts of the eastern shore, and lagoons such as Gahai have been cut off from the main lake by sand bars.
Highlights
Bird Island
鸟岛
A peninsula on the western shore, once an island, where bar-headed geese, great cormorants, brown-headed gulls and other birds breed in spring and summer.
Erlang Jian
二郎剑
A long spit on the southern shore, the main viewing point for the lake.
Riyue Shan
日月山
The Sun and Moon Pass east of the lake, a traditional boundary between farming and herding lands.
Sand Island
沙岛
Dunes and a lagoon on the north-eastern shore.
Haixin Shan
海心山
An island in the lake with a small Buddhist hermitage.
Plants and wildlife
The lake and its wetlands are a key stop for migratory birds on the Central Asian flyway. Its only native fish of note, the naked carp, migrates up the inflowing rivers each summer to spawn and is a key food for the birds; overfishing and dams reduced it sharply, and fishing has been banned for decades. The grasslands around the lake hold the last wild population of Przewalski's gazelle.
Plants
Splendid needlegrass
芨芨草
Achnatherum splendens, a tall tussock grass of the lake plains.
Rapeseed
油菜花
Cultivated on the northern and eastern plains, flowering yellow in July.
Wildlife
Naked carp
湟鱼
Gymnocypris przewalskii, a scaleless carp adapted to the salty water.
Bar-headed goose
斑头雁
The emblematic breeding bird of Bird Island, famous for flying over the Himalayas on migration.
Przewalski's gazelle
普氏原羚
An endangered gazelle found only in the Qinghai Lake basin.
Black-necked crane
黑颈鹤
Summers in the wetlands around the lake.
Culture and legend
For Tibetans and Mongols the lake is sacred, and pilgrims walk or ride around it. In Chinese history “Qinghai” meant the frontier between the Tang and the Tibetan Empire and, before that, the Tuyuhun kingdom, and battles along its shores were remembered in frontier poetry. Legend links the Sun and Moon Pass to Princess Wencheng, who crossed it on her way to marry the Tibetan king in 641.
君不见，青海头，古来白骨无人收。Jūn bú jiàn, Qīnghǎi tóu, gǔlái báigǔ wú rén shōu.
“Have you not seen, by the shore of Qinghai, the white bones that since old times no one has gathered?”
— Du Fu, “Ballad of the Army Carts” (兵车行), c. 750
Sun and Moon Pavilions
日月亭
Modern pavilions on the pass, recalling the legend of Princess Wencheng.
Circling the lake
转湖
Tibetan and Mongol pilgrims circumambulate the lake clockwise, on foot, by bicycle or by vehicle.
History
4th–7th centuries
Tuyuhun kingdom
A Xianbei-led state rules the lands around the lake until conquered by the Tibetan Empire.
641
Princess Wencheng crosses the Riyue pass
The Tang princess's journey to Lhasa becomes the founding legend of the pass.
1992
Ramsar site
Bird Island and the lake's wetlands are among China's first wetlands of international importance.
1997
National nature reserve
The lake and its surroundings are protected at national level.
2002
Tour of Qinghai Lake cycle race begins
An international road race around the lake makes it known to a wider public.
Through the seasons
Spring
The ice breaks up in late March or April; birds arrive and start nesting on Bird Island.
Summer
The main season: green grassland, rapeseed in flower in July, and naked carp running up the rivers; nights stay cool.
Autumn
Clear and increasingly cold; migrating birds leave and herders move to winter pastures.
Winter
The lake freezes over for several months; cold, windy and very quiet.
Routes and ways in
Lake circuit
A road runs right round the lake, about 360 km, and is often driven or cycled over several days with stops at the viewing points.
Southern shore from the Riyue pass
The most visited stretch, from the pass along the southern shore to Erlang Jian and Heimahe.
Practical notes
- At about 3,200 metres the lake is high enough for altitude symptoms; spend a night in Xining first if coming from the lowlands.
- The sun is strong and the wind cold, even in summer; sunscreen and warm layers are needed.
- Parts of Bird Island and other breeding areas are closed during the nesting season.
- Xining is the main base; the Qinghai–Tibet railway runs along the northern shore.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Qinghai Lake — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Ramsar Sites Information Service: China — Ramsar Convention Secretariat (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Qinghai Lake — Wikipedia (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Qinghai Provincial People's Government — Qinghai Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More mountains and nature in Qinghai
- Nature reserveHoh Xil可可西里The uninhabited high plateau of the Tibetan antelope
- LakeQarhan Salt Lake察尔汗盐湖A salt plain the size of a province in the Qaidam Basin
- National parkSanjiangyuan National Park三江源国家公园The high plateau where the Yangtze, Yellow River and Mekong begin
- Mountain rangeQilian Mountains祁连山The glaciated wall whose meltwater feeds the Hexi Corridor
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