Qinghai History

Qinghai Province is located in the western part of China and has the reputation of " The Roof of the World." It covers an area of 721,000 square kilometers. Therefore, as an essential province on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, what do we know about the history of Qinghai? Let's start to explore the history information of Qinghai.
 

Qinghai, abbreviated as "Qing," is named after Qinghai Lake, the largest inland saltwater lake in China has been attracting tourists worldwide.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it belonged to Tubo; it was under the jurisdiction of the Xuanzhengyuan in the Yuan Dynasty. It was called Wei Tibet in the Qing Dynasty, and later it was divided into the Xining Minister, also known as the Qinghai Minister.
 

Our ancestors were living in the Qaidam Basin and the Kunlun Mountains in Qinghai in the Late Paleolithic period.

In the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were more than 150 Qiang tribes, each of which had headmasters and was not affiliated with each other. They lived in primitive nomadic life, with low productivity.

In the Western Han Dynasty ( 121.B.C ), general Qubing Huo established a military fortress in this area called Xiping. From that time on, more and more people came into this land. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, this land expanded into a prefecture and was named Xihai prefecture. 

Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty: At the beginning of the fourth century, Tuyuhun people moved to Gansu and Qinghai and established the Tuyuhun State. At its heyday, its influence has stretched from Songpan to Qinghai, Gansu, and Xinjiang. Tubo, in 663 AD, perished the Tuyuhun. During the Sixteen Kingdoms of Eastern Jin Dynasty, Qianliang, Qianqin, Houliang, Nanliang, Xiqin, Western Xia, and Beiliang successfully ruled the Hehuang area of Qinghai.

During the Sui Dynasty ( 518-618 A.D. ), this area extended into two prefectures, the second being named Heyuan.

In the 7th century, Songzanganbu unified the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and established the Tubo dynasty. After the "Rebellion of Anshi" in the Tang Dynasty, Tubo controlled the entire territory of Qinghai for nearly 200 years. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, "Shiwei" once controlled Hehuang area. However, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Tibetan tribes in Qinghai were scattered and collapsed.

During the Song Dynasty ( 960 - 1279 AD ), this land was renamed Xining, and this name is still used today. 

During the Ming Dynasty, Xining Prefecture was changed into a guard, under the jurisdiction of 6,000 households. Then "four outside guards" were set up in today's Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haibei. In the early Ming Dynasty, the government adopted some useful policies, including Dogan provisional capital commanded the envoys and the governor of the Dasima Wanhu.

During the Qing Dynasty, some Mongolian tribes moved to Qinghai and ruled the whole region. In the early years of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, after the defeat of the Anti-Qing Dynasty by Rob Zandanjin, the government established Qinghai Minister to rule the Tibetan tribes in Mongolian and Tibetan tribes in Yushu and Guoluo. Xiningwei in northeastern Qinghai was changed to Xining House, which still follows the Ming Dynasty's chieftain system and is under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province.

In 1929, Qinghai province was established with its capital in Xining. The Qinghai People's Government was formally established on 1st January 1950 after Qinghai's liberation on 5th Sept 1949.