Qinghai Lake in china

Qinghai Lake or Tsongon Po (Chinese: 青海湖; Tibetan: མཚོ་སྔོན་པོ། ) is the largest lake in People's Republic of China. Located in Qinghai province on an endorheic basin, Qinghai Lake is classified as a saline and alkaline lake. Qinghai Lake has a surface area of 4,317 square km; an average depth of 21m, and a maximum depth of 25.5m as measured in 2008. ^[2] Both the current Chinese name "Qinghai" and the older Mongolian name Kokonor translate to "Blue Lake" or "Teal Sea", are used in English. Qinghai Lake is located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the provincial capital ofXining (Tib:Ziling ཟི་ལིང་།) at 3,205 m (10,515 feet) above sea level in a depression of the Tibetan plateau.^[3] Twenty-three rivers and streams empty into Qinghai Lake, most of them seasonal. Five permanent streams provide 80% of total influx.^[4]

The lake has fluctuated in size, shrinking over much of the 20th century, but increasing since 2004. Despite its salinity, it has an abundance of fish, such as the edible naked carp (Gymnocypris 

HISTORY

Since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), Qinghai Lake was called the West Sea (Chinese: 西海; pinyin: Xī Hǎi), and substantial numbers of Han Chinese lived in the Xining valley.^[10] In the 17th century, Mongolic-speaking Oirat andKhalkha tribals migrated to Qinghai and became known as Qinghai Mongols.^[11] In 1724, the Qinghai Mongols led byLobzang Danjin revolted against China's Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). The Yongzheng Emperor, after putting down the rebellion, stripped away Qinghai's autonomy and imposed direct rule. Although some Tibetans lived around the lake, the Qing maintained an administrative division since the time of Güshi Khan between the Dalai Lama's western realm (a bit smaller than the current Tibet Autonomous Region) and the Tibetan-inhabited areas in the east. Yongzheng also sent Manchu and Han settlers to dilute the Mongols.^[12]

During the Republican era (1912-1949), an annual ceremony was conducted to the God of the Lake. By this time, the Han people formed a majority of QinghaiProvince's residents, although Hui people ("Chinese Muslims") dominated the government.^[13] The Kuomintang Hui General Ma Bufang, the Governor of Qinghai, and other high ranking Qinghai and Chinese government officials attended the Kokonuur Lake Ceremony where the God of the Lake was worshipped, and during the ritual, the Chinese national Anthem was sung, all participants bowed to a Portrait of Kuomintang party founder Dr. Sun Zhongshan, and the God of the Lake was also bowed to, and offerings were given to him by the participants, which included the Muslims.^[14] Ma Bufang invited Kazakh Muslims to attend the Ceremony honoring the God.^[15]

After the 1949 Chinese revolution, refugees from the 1950s Anti-Rightist Movement settled in the area west of Qinghai Lake.^[10] After the Chinese economic reformin the 1980s, increasing numbers of Chinese began to migrate to the lake because of business opportunities. However, the increased human density caused ecological stress, as "fresh grass production in Gangcha County north of the lake had declined from a mean of 2,057 kilograms per hectare to 1,271 in 1987". In 2001, the State Forestry Administration of China launched the "retire cropland, restore grasslands" (退耕，还草) campaign and started confiscating Tibetan and Mongol pastoralists' guns allegedly in order to preserve the endangered Przewalski's gazelle that they had been encroaching upon.