Xining

Xining Overview

Chinese Name: Xining English IPA: Xīníng Location: Northwest of China Population (city): 2,371,100(2018) Language: Central Area Mandarin, Xining Dialect Zip code: 810000 Tel code: 0971 Time zone: (UTC+8)

Located on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Xining (Chinese: 西宁) is the capital of Qinghai province in western China, and the largest city on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. As the political, economic, cultural and traffic center of Qinghai Province with an average altitude of over 2,200 meters, Xining is the first city on the upper reaches of the Yellow River to achieve a population into the millions. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road’s Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and was a stronghold of the Han, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties’ resistance against nomadic attacks from the west. Now, the city of Xining acts as one of the major gateways to the Tibetan Plateau.

Highlights of Xining

  • China’s Summer Resort Capital: Geographically speaking, Xining is 2260 meters above the sea level, but the climate is much better than that of Tibet. Xining has a continental mid-drought climate. Sunshine is sufficient in Xining and summer is cool. The annual temperature is about 6.5C. Due to its cool climate Xining is considered to be a summer resort in northwestern cities. The best time to visit Xining is from May to September every year.
  • Superb High Plateau Landscape: Xining is the starting point of most traveling routes in Qinghai Province. Not very far away from the city, you can visit the largest salty lake in China – Qinghai Lake, vast plateau grasslands with countless yaks, giant snow mountains afar. Other famous attarctions such as Riyue MountainChaka Salt Lake, Qilian Mountain Grassland and Gold and Silver Grassland also offer your great plateau scenery.
  • Authentic Ethnic Culture: Xining is one of the largest localities for Tibetan and Hui people. There are many grand Buddhist temples and Islamic for you to explore the exotic culture, such as the famous Taer Monastery and Dongguan Great Mosque.
  • Transfer Hub for Tibet Tour: Xining is the starting point of Qinghai Tibet Railway. Xining Flights and Xining Trains provide you convenient transportation to nearby tourists destinations. There are many trains for you to transfer to Lhasa each day. From Xining, you can also take flight to Lhasa, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Xian, Beijing, etc. 

Edited by Brittany Tian/田春燕

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