Haibei.

On Qinghai Lake’s northern side, a fish migration and a bird survey reveal movements that a lake panorama cannot hold. Farther north, Menyuan’s rapeseed fields and Gangshika’s winter pack teams show different kinds of seasonal work. Haiyan adds another register: Atomic City’s buildings and the stories attached to Jinyintan’s songs. These places share a regional home without sharing a single history.

Qinghai Lake naked carp photographed in 2013.

Haibei

Shallow water and birds at Qinghai Lake in 2026; individual bird species are not identified.

Counting Birds Across Qinghai Lake’s Wetlands

A bird count begins with repeatable choices: where to stand, what habitat to record and how to compare one observation with another. Qinghai Lake’s monitoring datasets make those choices visible.

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Wetland reeds and water in Gangcha County, photographed in 2014; no specific river mouth is named.

A Pause on the Migration Route

At Qinghai Lake, bird habitats are measured across seasons and forms of water. Monitoring records show why a migration stop is a network of places, not a single shoreline.

A Przewalski’s gazelle photographed in the wild, according to the photographer’s description.

Room to Move: Gazelles and Grassland

The endangered Przewalski’s gazelle survives around Qinghai Lake through connected habitat and years of monitoring. Protection work treats movement as a condition of survival.

Original editorial diagram, not a photograph or measured plan: Fairy Bay’s 2019 survey counted 116 birds of two species; separate 2024 reports described ice at two shoreline sites.

Two Winter Records Around Qinghai Lake

A 2019 winter survey counted birds in Fairy Bay, Gangcha; a separate 2024 report described ice near Shadao and Erlangjian on the lake’s east shore.

The entrance of Qinghai Atomic City’s memorial exhibition complex.

A Base Becomes a Prefectural Seat

In 1995, the former nuclear research base at Xihai was transferred to local government. Its laboratories, halls and command facilities entered a new civic chapter in Haiyan County.

The builders’ names monument at Jinyintan Atomic City.

The People Behind the Atomic City

The official history of the former base includes scientists, workers, military personnel and local herding communities. Together, their labor formed the human setting of a research landscape on Jinyintan Grassland.

A former assembly-site building at China’s first nuclear-weapons research base.

The Buildings Left by a Research Base

Science buildings, a library and a cinema are among the structures named in a 2021 account of the former base at Xihai. Their preservation gives the research complex a visible architectural record.

Published accounts differ on 1939–40 chronology; the museum opened in 2009 and lists 200+ manuscripts in five chapters. Original editorial diagram; illustrative, not a photograph or measured site plan.

A Song’s Journey Through Jinyintan

The Wang Luobin Music Art Museum preserves photographs and manuscripts tied to Jinyintan. Accounts place the song’s creation in spring 1939 or spring 1940, while connecting its story to the grassland.

Original editorial network schematic: the 2021 Dayu case study describes an expansion from four cycling stations to nine. Node positions are illustrative and do not form a geographic route map.

Cycling Stations on the Edge of Xihai

A 2021 prefectural tourism account followed the growth of Dayu Tribe near Xihai from a simple stop into a cycling service base, with pastoral households joining a changing local economy.

Original editorial diagram, not a photograph or measured plan: The account lists four Arou stewardship areas—management, religious activity, finances and relic care—beside five policy themes.

Arou Monastery and the Work of Stewardship

A 2026 provincial legislative visit at Arou Great Monastery examined management, religious activities, financial disclosure and cultural relic protection as part of a wider review of religious-affairs rules in Haibei.

Gangshika’s snowy peak, photographed in July 2014.

Winter Work Beneath Gangshika

In Menyuan, a winter mountaineering season brought pack teams, guides, food stalls and road-maintenance work into a familiar pastoral landscape. A 2025 report recorded how local households took part.

Gangshika’s peak in July 2014: landscape context for the mountain-transport story, not a portrait of a Datong horse or the 2025 pack team.

Menyuan’s Horses: Breed Records and Snow Routes

Menyuan’s horse story connects an officially documented highland breed with a newer winter use: carrying mountaineering supplies at Gangshika.

Gangshika’s snowy peak, photographed in July 2014.

A Snow Season Built Around the Horse

A 2025 account of Gangshika links horse-racing events, winter mountaineering and local services. It offers a dated glimpse of how Menyuan was extending the mountain’s seasonal calendar.

Rapeseed fields in Menyuan, photographed in July 2009.

From Menyuan Seed to a Parcel at the Door

A Menyuan oil producer connected local seed processing to online orders through a packaging and postal-shipping system.

Menyuan’s cultivated valley and mountains, photographed in July 2009.

Two Seasons in the Menyuan Rapeseed Field

Summer flowering and autumn harvest show two different moments in Menyuan’s spring-rapeseed year, from field color to seed and oil.

Arou station compares measurements above and below the grassland surface with a gradient tower and soil sensors. Original editorial diagram; illustrative, not a photograph or measured site plan.

Arou Station: Reading a Grassland Through Instruments

At a high alpine grassland station in Qilian County, a tower and buried sensors turn changing air and soil into measurements.

Grassland and mountains in the Mole area of Qilian County, photographed in 2015.

From Qilian to Ejin: A River Basin Measured in Stations

A 2013 hydrometeorological dataset linked 18 observation sites across the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Heihe River basin.

Photo credits and rights

Qinghai Lake naked carp photographed in 2013.EricDiao · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Shallow water and birds at Qinghai Lake in 2026; individual bird species are not identified.Jonashtand · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Wetland reeds and water in Gangcha County, photographed in 2014; no specific river mouth is named.Leeshan Chung · CC BY 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
A Przewalski’s gazelle photographed in the wild, according to the photographer’s description.天青一雁远 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Original editorial diagram, not a photograph or measured plan: Fairy Bay’s 2019 survey counted 116 birds of two species; separate 2024 reports described ice at two shoreline sites.© 2026 IFreeing · Rights information Photo source ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
The entrance of Qinghai Atomic City’s memorial exhibition complex.ping lin · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
The builders’ names monument at Jinyintan Atomic City.ping lin · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
A former assembly-site building at China’s first nuclear-weapons research base.Squallgold · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Published accounts differ on 1939–40 chronology; the museum opened in 2009 and lists 200+ manuscripts in five chapters. 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.
Original editorial network schematic: the 2021 Dayu case study describes an expansion from four cycling stations to nine. Node positions are illustrative and do not form a geographic route map.© 2026 IFreeing · Rights information Photo source ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Original editorial diagram, not a photograph or measured plan: The account lists four Arou stewardship areas—management, religious activity, finances and relic care—beside five policy themes.© 2026 IFreeing · Rights information Photo source ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Gangshika’s snowy peak, photographed in July 2014.NoGhost · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Rapeseed fields in Menyuan, photographed in July 2009.david_hwang · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Menyuan’s cultivated valley and mountains, photographed in July 2009.david_hwang · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.
Arou station compares measurements above and below the grassland surface with a gradient tower and soil sensors. 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.
Grassland and mountains in the Mole area of Qilian County, photographed in 2015.Neil Young (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cnneil/) · CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and converted to WebP without cropping. No objects were added, removed or reconstructed.