Qinghai, which is located more than 1, 500 km from the East China coast, has little rainfall and plenty of sunshine. The annual precipitation averages 700 mm in the river valleys in the eastern part, while that in the Qaidam Basin in western Qinghai is below 50 mm. In some places it is only a little more than 10 mm. The province has a mean annual temperature of 0°to -8°C in the Southern Qinghai Plateau and the Qilian Mountain Area and 0°－6°C in other parts.

Tibetan, Hui, Tu, Salar, Mongol and other ethnic groups.

Qinghai is an important livestock breeding center. Its livestock includes sheep, yaks, pian niu (crossbreed of bulls and yaks) and horses. Qinghai produces large quantities of sheep wool, meat, leather and sausage casings for other parts of the country. It is an important producer of medicinal materials such as caterpillar fungus, antlers, musk and rhubarb. Qinghai Lake is famous for its scaleless naked carp. The province grows spring wheat, highland barley, broad beans, potatoes and rapeseed.