With an area of 495,200 hectares, Qinghai Lake (Çຣºþ) Nature Reserve is located on the boundaries of Gangcha, Haiyan and Gonghe counties of Qinghai Province. Established in 1975 with the approval of the Qinghai Provincial Government, the Reserve was listed as a Wetland of International Importance in 1992. The main protection targets are rare birds and plateau wetland ecosystem.

The Reserve is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Qinghai Lake as a main body is surrounded by lakeside plain, grassy swamp, alpine grassy marshland, semi-desert and dry grassy beach. It is dry and cold in the Reserve. The winter lastslonger and the summer shorter with big disparity of temperature. Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve has abundant wetland ecosystem and bio-resources. There are altogether 200 species of birds and beasts in Qinghai Lake and lakeside area. As a plateau lake, it is the kingdom of birds. In spring and summer, some 100,000 birds mainly including gulls, cormorants, swans and blank-necked cranes fly to the Reserve to go through the summer. The abundant fish resources in the Qinghai Lake also serve as food for the birds there.

Editor: Carolyn