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Qinghai Travel Blogs

Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By turkishraf
November 29th 2009

By Speed boat to the yellow river. (and the K9662 To Xining)) Asia » China » Qinghai » Xining

Disembarking at Langzou

The T 9662 tto Lanzhou was comfortable. We had the wide bedded soft sleeper with clean sheets and a cool but not cold, cabin. We boarded and slumped onto our seats. We chatted for a while, but soon could not do so any longer, and drifted off to sleep at 2330hrs. We rumbled and clacked into the night, and woke refreshed at 0630. The train halted at exactly 0700 at Lanzhou. There was the usual scrum as we got off in Darkness. “Shall we wait until the crowd dies down?” I asked Chris. “No” he screamed back over the short Chinese [View Full Entry]

By StevenisWhere
June 14th 2009

Brothels and Tibetan Buddhists Asia » China » Qinghai » Tongren/Rebkong

After posting last night, we headed back to the hotel for an early night in our very basic hotel room in Tongren. We read our books, wrote in our journals, and shut out the lights for some much needed rest, after traveling basically the whole day... About a half hour later, I was awoken by what sounded like some very drunk people in the hallway. After five minutes, the sound died down, and I thought nothing of it. However, about 15 minutes later, and probably every hour after that until about 4am, the same thing happened. I would first hear the [View Full Entry]

By StevenisWhere
June 13th 2009

Tibetan monks in Tongren Asia » China » Qinghai » Tongren/Rebkong

This afternoon we boarded a train to Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, which is on the border with Tibet. Outside of Tibet itself, Qinhai has the greatest density of Tibetan people in the world, and since Witt and I couldn't go to the real thing, we wanted to be able to experience a taste of tibetan culture in Qinhai. The train ride was uncomfortable, but uneventful, with some pretty scenery (but not really that much to be honest). Arriving in Xining, I was a little nervous. I had been planning on taking us to Xiahe, another city near Lanzhou, which [View Full Entry]

By JoergandYuki
December 25th 2008

Monasteries at the edge of the Tibet plateau in Qinghai province (1.11.-2.11.08) Asia » China » Qinghai » Xining

Entrance of main hall of the monastery

Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, turned out to be already more wild than expected. It was far less modern than the other cities. The most obvious sign for this were the missing chain stores of Mc Donalds, KFC and Starbucks. We arrived after a comfortable night on the train. Chinese sleeper trains are of good quality with open 6 berths compartments and clean bed sheets. There is also a wake up service from the attendant in each carriage. The youth hostel was closed and we ended far outside of town in a kind of 4x4 car club accommodation. It [View Full Entry]

By Lauren Shane
September 7th 2008

China - Qinghai Lake Asia » China » Qinghai

Colorful prayer flags

Shane flew to Beijing in September as part of his new job with USGS (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), working on a satellite telemetry project of waterfowl migration in Eurasia and Africa. By placing transmitters on the backs of ducks and geese using little harnesses, we can track the migration of individuals around the globe. A specific focus of the project is determining how wild birds may be contributing to the spread of avian influenza (bird flu), which spread prolifically from Southeast Asia and China into Western Asia, Europe, and Africa since 2005. We would be working at Qinghai L [View Full Entry]

By Seven Weeks in Tibet
August 28th 2008

Xining to Yushu and Zadou Asia » China » Qinghai » Jyekundo/Yushu

OK, I will try this entry again. I had written for 20 minutes about the beauty of this land, and then the manager of this internet cafe in Zadou pullled the plug, the hour done. No bother to ask if I wanted to continue, no warning, may I add very annoying! However, this is China and I am in the middle of nowhere so I shouldn't be surprised at anything that happens here. I realized it is hard to count on anything here, like times and plans and schedules, I just didn't expect to be shut down without warning, but hey [View Full Entry]

By sarahsinbeijing
July 10th 2008

Day 4 in Qinghai Asia » China » Qinghai

Day 4 July 10, 2008 Before coming to Ledu County I said on numerous occasions that I thought this would be an opportunity to see a part of China I hadn't seen, the rural countryside. I realize now that I have actually seen the rural countryside numerous times throughout my time in China. The difference now is that I am not in Ledu County as a tourist. I think perhaps I thought that I would be teaching in a small village with only a few hundred people. This is not the case at all. The population here is about 20,000, which [View Full Entry]

By sarahsinbeijing
July 9th 2008

Teaching English? Day 3 Asia » China » Qinghai

(excerpt from an email I sent to my friend Michelle) This is my third day here in Ledu County, but we still haven't started teaching English because the students are taking exams or something. Instead we've been going to a ton of official dinners and lunches with people in charge of the schools and the government here. I'm not really sure what we're accomplishing by doing that..... Plus today at lunch they insisted on toasting with tons of baijiu. I refused to drink much and got away with it because I was the American girl, but the Tsinghua students were not [View Full Entry]

By sarahsinbeijing
July 8th 2008

Teaching English in Qinghai Day 2 Asia » China » Qinghai

Day 2 July 8, 2008 Day 2 in Ledu County has been relatively uneventful, especially for someone such as me with a low level of Chinese comprehension. Because the students are taking exams, we will not start teaching for several days. Thus, the Tsinghua students have set out to do some research on the successes and failures of a recent government health program aimed at covering a percentage of health expenses for people in rural areas. Yue Lin, the only female Tsinghua student, and Ma Haipeng, also a Tsinghua student, spent the morning meeting with people to get permission to interview [View Full Entry]

By sarahsinbeijing
July 7th 2008

Teaching English Day 1 Asia » China » Qinghai » Xining

Day 1 July 7, 2008 I am on a train to Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. I will be here for the next ten days or so teaching English to children in the countryside. After arriving at the train station, we will take a bus to Ledu County. This is all part of the Summer Service Learning Program sponsored by the Poverty Alleviation Office at Tsinghua University. My traveling companions include one female and four male Tsinghua students, a Chinese-American who just graduated from Duke University and a female professor from the University of South Floriay. We will later be [View Full Entry]

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