Huangzhong

Huangzhong County is situated at the agricultural areas in the east parts of Qinghai Province, the upper reaches of the HuangshuiRiver. It lies between 101°09’32’’-101°54’50’’and 36°13＇32”－37°03’19” north latitude. It borders Xining City，Ping’an and Hualong County of Haidong Administrative Prefecture on the east，

Gonghe and Guide County of Haina Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on the south, Huanyuan County and Haiyan County of Haibei Tibetan and Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture on the west, and is adjacent to Datong County on the north. The government of Huangzhong County was set up at Lusha’er town, 26 kilometres away from Xining City. Generally speaking, the terrain of the whole county slopes a little from south, west and north directions to southeast. It spans 68km from east to west and extends 91 km from north to south. The whole county covers a total area of 3,000 square km and is a mountainous one, with the highest altitude of 4, 489 metres and the Huangshui River cutting through its whole area. It belongs to continental highland climate, with an average annual temperature of 2.8 C and the annual rainfall of 527mm. There are altogether 15 mainstreams with the discharge of 700 million cubic metres. Its percentage of forest cover reaches 11. 37%. It has a population of 0. 49 million at the end of 2007. The location of Ta’er Monastery(Lamasery) is where Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism was born. Huangzhong County has a long history, which was a place of strategic importance both in the Silk Road and Tang-and-Ancient Tibet Road. It shares beautiful landscapes and transport convenience. It boasts abundant tourism resources, especially Ta’er Monastery, a Lamasery of Tibetan Buddhism situated In the Lianhua (Lotus) mountain to the south of Lusha’er Town in Huangzhong County.