QINGHAI
PROVINCE

Qinghai Province, in the northwest of China, north of Tibet, is one of the least hospitable places on earth. Most of it is desert or rugged mountain, bitterly cold in winter and blindingly hot in summer. In mid-1982 when the national census was taken, the population of this huge area was only 3.9 million people. The province is closed to foreigners, although Xining, the provincial capital, and Qinghai Lake are fairly close to Lanzhou and have been visited by some foreign delegations, suggesting that the authorities may soon be willing to open the door just a crack. One problem with developing tourism in Qinghai is that it has the reputation of being the labour camp province (it is not known if the population figure includes prisoners). Because of its isolated position and barren-ness, the Communist government has apparently made use of prison labour to help develop the province. Many of the original inhabitants of Qinghai are Tibetans, and the exiled Tibetan god-king, the Dalai Lama (who was born in Qinghai), considers a large slice of the province to be rightfully part of his kingdom. Visitors to XINING stay in a large Soviet-style guesthouse surrounded by high walls. The drive to QINCHAI LAKE to the west is spectacular: wide open spaces with occasional Tibetan herdsmen, while to the south are majestic mountains guarding the approaches to Tibet. The lake is a large inland saltwater sea which supports a fishing industry. At the western end is BIRD ISLAND, a famous rookery where thousands of birds nest in summer. When they migrate south, they are replaced by Siberian swans flying in from further north. But best of all, the Qinghai Lake has its own monster, a cousin of the Loch Ness monster. On 23 May 1982, men fishing near an island in the centre of the lake reported seeing a huge animal rising out of the water nearby. It was black and yellow in colour, about 13 or 14 metres long and had the shape of an over-turned boat. Tibetan herdsmen living near the lake reported having seen the animal many times, and said it usually surfaced on very hot days.