Xining Travel China, Xining Tour Guide

China Xining City:
Xining

Resident People:
1.11 million (urban population: 700,000)

General Information:
Xining is the capital of Qinghai and the only major city in the province. Xining's name is derived from Xipingting which means ¡®hope of stability along western borders'.

Geography:
Xining is located in the eastern part of Qinghai province lying on the Qinghai/Tibetan Plateau at an elevation of around 2,200 meters above sea level, and is around 225km from Lanzhou.

Climate:
The continental mid-drought climate with rich sunlight and little rainfall, short frost-free, long freeze-up, no bitter coldness in winter or extremely hot in summer.

Nature:
Along that way, you can see antelope, yak, donkeys, camel and lynx.

Xining Economy:
Mineral deposits include coal, quartzite, limestone, gypsum, and bauxite. Quartzite reserves in Xining ranks high in China. It also has forests and pasturelands.
Industries include machinery, chemical, power, metal making, and food processing. Xining is a major producer to make heavy machine tools, electrolytic aluminum, and alloy steel. The chief farm products of Xining are wheat, corn, rape, fruit, vegetables, milk and livestock.

History:
Xining has an history of 2000 years; originally called Xipingting; once as a capital in Nan Liang dynasty. It was the key point of the south branch of the Silk Road.

Arrive:
Today its location on the road to Tibet via Golmud means it is a stopping place for visitors on the way to Lhasa. While the city itself is fairly quiet, it is a good base from which to explore the little known sights of Qinghai such as its massive saltwater lake and the Tibetan monastery at Ta'er.
In addition to its new road connections, there are regular flights between Xining and Beijing, Xi'an, Golmud, and Lhasa.

Xining Tourism:
Overall the city of Xining is an important transit city for tourist traveling to Xinghai or Tibet.

Cuisine:
The city of Xining has plenty to offer in terms of food. The Local delights include food such as Chicken Cooked with Caterpillar Fungus (Danbai chongcao ji), a nasty sounding, tasty and nourishing dish, Gold-fish-shaped Flagelliform Nostoc (Facai jinyu), Chrysanthemum-shaped Carp Slices (Juhua liyu), Steamed Egg with Flagelliform Nostoc (Facai zhengdan), and Lamb Cooked with Sliced Mushroom (Yangrou mogu pian). Some of the better known restaurants in Xining offering good food at moderate prices include, The Cafe (Xining bingguan) in the Xining Hotel. It's a vast Chinese-style hall with big round tables serving enticing Mongolian hotpot buffet. Yongfu Hotel (Yongfu binguan) on Jianguo lu/Binhe lu. This hotel has a small restaurant that serves cheap dishes. Xiaoyuanmen Restaurant (Xiaoyuanmen shifu) on Dongguan dajie serves good Muslim food. Yinghua Mianpian Restaurant (Yinghua mianpian fandian), serves large bowls of these squares of noodles. Shang Yi Da Xia at 190 Dongguan lu is a small Muslim restaurant that does some good hotpots. For people who love street food, the city has lots to offer. These food stalls can be found in the markets and on most streets. The specialties are strongly Tibetan or Muslim influenced. These include Lamb Tenderloin (Feng'er liji), Kebab (Kao yangrou), Yu Rangpi (similar to the Dunhuang Rang pizi), Wang's Thick Sliced Noodle Pieces (Wang mianpian), Cold Noodles (Liang mian), Soup Cooked with Lamb and Oxen Entrails (Zasui tang), Hand Held Mutton (Shouzhua yangrou) and Lamb Liver (Zhu yanggan). For breakfast you should really try the tasty Muslim Yoghurt (Qingzheng suannai).

Xining Attractive points:
Qinghai Lake and Bird Island
Lying 180 km from Xining and 3200 metres above sea level, Qinghai Lake is the largest salt water lake in China; not only that it is also the largest of all lakes, both salt water and fresh, in the whole country. In Qinghai Lake Bird Island is the most charming and attractive place. Situated on the western shore of Qinghai Lake, the island has largely due to the receding of waters off its shores, been turned into a peninsula. Though it covers an area of slightly less than 1000 square meters it attracts many migrating birds in spring and summer. To these hundreds of thousands of migrant birds, the island has become a very important bird sanctuary. Thousands of birds of different species such as geese, gulls, sandpipers and cormorants, nest on the island and the sound of its calls, twitters is carried far and away. For these birds as well as bird watching enthusiasts,the island represents nothing short of a piece of heaven. Another attraction on the lake is Haixinshan where according to legend great horses were bred.
Dongguan Mosque
Lcated in the eastern urban area of Xining City, the Dongguan Mosque was built in 1380. The mosque is one of its largest in Qinghai, covering a floor space of 12,000 square meters. It has an assembly prayer hall that can hold up to 3,000 people.
Ta'er Monastery
Ta'er Monastery (Kumbum Monastery) is one of the six biggest monasteries of the Yellow Hat Sect (Gelugpa Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism. In memory of the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect, Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), an 11-meter-high pagoda was built at his birthplace, today's Huangzhong County about 30 kilometers southwest of Xining, Qinhai Province in 1577. Later it was enlarged into a monastery continually.
The monastery is a perfect complex of both the Tibet style architecture and the Han style buildings. The Propitious Pagoda is the first scene you will see in the Ta'er Monastery. Each of these eight pagodas states a great event in Sakyamuni's great life. The Great Hall of the Golden Roof is the main hall of the Ta'er Monastery with the Han style architecture and is said to be the birthplace of Tsong Khapa. You can also enjoy visiting the Lesser Hall of the Golden Roof, the Great Hall of Meditation, the Peace Pagoda, the Buddha Pagoda and the Kitchen. These structures reflect the superb craftsmanship of the architects then.
The three unique works of art in Ta'er Monastery refer to butter sculpture, appliques and murals. Butter sculptures are all kinds of Buddha figures, portraits, flowers and trees and pavilions made of the mixture of white butter mineral dye. Filled with cotton and wool in between, the appliques Here made of silk cuttings show the visitors a stereo sense. Most of the murals in Ta'er Monastery are carved on the cloth.