Haidong Prefecture

:"See Haedong for disambiguation."Haidong (Simplified Chinese : 海东, Traditional Chinese : 海東; Pinyin : Hǎidōng, Wylie: Haitung) is the prefecture of Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China. The place name literally means "east of the Qinghai Lake."

Geography

Haidong is located in the eastern part of Qinghai province between Xining in the West, the Datong River valley in the north, the Gansu border in the east and the Yellow River in the south. Mountain ranges tower above the district of which the main valley is the one of the Huang Shui (Tib. "Tsong Chu"), a major tributary of the Yellow River. This valley stretcehs from west to east and makes up - together with the area around Xining, the landscape which is called Tsongkha ("Onion Valley") by Tibetans. It has a total area of 13,100 km².

Administrative divisions

*Ping'an County (平安县)
*Ledu County (乐都县)
*Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County (民和回族土族自治县)
*Huzhu Tu Autonomous County (互助土族自治县)
*Hualong Hui Autonomous County (化隆回族自治县)
*Xunhua Salar Autonomous County (循化撒拉族自治县)

Demographics

As of 2005, the total population of Haidong is approximately 1,480,000. It is the most densely populated area of Qinghai, with almost a third of the province's population (its surface makes up only two percent of Qinghai).

Further reading

* 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