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Qinghai

Qinghai · Map

At Ta’er Monastery, butter becomes a temporary sculpture. In the Hehuang valleys, painted clay, embroidery and temple murals hold other kinds of time. Northward, Qinghai Lake is crossed by fish and birds; westward, salt works and telescopes bring two different kinds of work to the Qaidam Basin. Farther south, painters, carvers, herders and river patrols bring the headwaters into view through particular places and tasks. Follow the material, the water or the work: each route opens another Qinghai.

Qinghai
Xining Haidong Haibei Huangnan Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Golog Yushu Haixi

Selected waterways · simplified geography

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From the journal

Nangqian Salt: Brine, Sun and Salt Beds

In Nangqian, villagers guide brine through hillside beds, let it settle and evaporate, then gather the crystals by hand.

1 min readYushu
Nangqian salt beds and black pottery use distinct materials and processes; the account also notes historic trade routes. Original editorial diagram; illustrative, not a photograph or measured site plan.
Nangqian salt beds and black pottery use distinct materials and processes; the account also notes historic trade routes. Original editorial diagram; illustrative, not a photograph or measured site plan.

A hillside shaped into salt beds

In Nangqian County, salt begins as brine drawn toward beds built along a hillside. A 2024 report by the Qinghai Provincial People’s Congress describes villagers guiding brine into prepared beds, where the liquid settles and evaporates before the concentrate dries in the sun. Salt crystals are then gathered by hand. The slope helps direct water through the work.

The report describes a shared rhythm: carrying brine, filling the beds, drying and collecting salt, then repairing the beds for another cycle.

Salt beds and black pottery

Nangqian’s black pottery begins with clay, while salt-making begins with brine, sunlight and hillside beds. A 2020 People’s Daily report follows pottery makers shaping vessels and firing them in a large jar with yak-dung fuel. The two crafts use different materials and tools, each tied to its own sequence of work.

The provincial report also connects Nangqian salt to older routes, including the Tang-Tibet and tea-horse roads, and says salt once served communities in Nangqian and nearby Chamdo. A salt bed is both a practical surface for evaporation and part of a wider history of making and trade.

Keep following the story

YushuNangqian Black Pottery: Shaping and Firing a Vessel A 2020 workshop report follows Nangqian artisans as they shape vessels by hand and fire them in a sealed pottery jar using smoke carbon.
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  1. Nangqian salt beds and black pottery use distinct materials and processes; the account also notes historic trade routes. Original editorial diagram; illustrative, not a photograph or measured site plan.© 2026 IFreeing · Rights information Photo source ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.