Haidong

Haidong is the easternmost division of Qinghai province. It is bounded by Xining, the provincial capital, to the West, the Datong River Valley to the north, Gansu to the east, and the Yellow River to the south. Mountain ranges tower above the district of which the main valley is that of the Huang Shui (Tib. Tsong Chu), a major tributary of the Yellow River. This valley stretches 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 square kilometres (5,100 sq mi).

Haidong has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) characterised by warm to very warm summers, freezing but extremely dry winters, and large diurnal temperature ranges. Temperatures are warmer than anywhere else in Qinghai due to the relatively low altitude, although minima in winter still typically fall below −10 °C or 14 °F. Precipitation is low and mostly confined to the summer months: less than 45 millimetres or 1.8 inches of water equivalent typically falls between October and April inclusive, and less than 12 millimetres or 0.5 inches between November and March.

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).