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The province with its high terrain is topographically known as the Qinghai Plateau, which is an important part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Altun and Qilian mountain areas in the north are mostly more than 4,000 meters above sea level. The Huanghe and Huangshui river valley lands in the northeastern corner, about 2,000 meters in elevation, are the lowest-lying region and the most important farming area of Qinghai. The Qinghai Lake Basin consists of a vast lake deposit plain well suited for farming and animal husbandry. The Qaidam, a large inland basin walled in by the Altun, Qilian and Kunlun mountains in the northwest, slopes from northwest to southeast and is interspersed with numerous salt lakes and swamps. The plateau in the south, which makes up more than half of the province's total area and exceeds 4,500 meters in elevation, includes the Kunlun range and its branches, the Hohxil, Bayanhar and Anyemaqen mountains and provides headwaters for the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.
Qinghai with its scores of large rivers has abundant hydropower resources. Its exterior rivers include the Huanghe, the Tongtian (upper stream of the Yangtze), the Zaqu (upper stream of the Lancang), the Huangshui and the Datong. Of its numerous lakes, Qinghai Lake is the largest inland lake in China and Gyaring and Ngoring are the largest freshwater lakes in the province.
(china.org.cn)
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