Qinghai Lake - History

History

Since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), Qinghai Lake was called the West Sea (Chinese: 西海; pinyin: Xī Hǎi), and substantial numbers of Han Chinese lived in the Xining valley. In the 17th century, Mongolic-speaking Oirat and Khalkha tribals migrated to Qinghai and became known as Qinghai Mongols. In 1724, the Qinghai Mongols led by Lobzang Danjin revolted against China's Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). The Yongzheng Emperor, after putting down the rebellion, stripped away Qinghai's autonomy and imposed direct rule. Although some Tibetans lived around the lake, the Qing maintained an administrative division since the time of Güshi Khan between the Dalai Lama's western realm (a bit smaller than the current Tibet Autonomous Region) and the Tibetan-inhabited areas in the east. Yongzheng also sent Manchu and Han settlers to dilute the Mongols.

During the Republican era (1912-1949), an annual ceremony was conducted to the God of the Lake. By this time, the Han people formed a majority of Qinghai Province's residents, although Hui people ("Chinese Muslims") dominated the government. The Kuomintang Hui General Ma Bufang, the Governor of Qinghai, and other high ranking Qinghai and Chinese government officials attended the Kokonuur Lake Ceremony where the God of the Lake was worshipped, and during the ritual, the Chinese national Anthem was sung, all participants bowed to a Portrait of Kuomintang party founder Dr. Sun Zhongshan, and the God of the Lake was also bowed to, and offerings were given to him by the participants, which included the Muslims. Ma Bufang invited Kazakh Muslims to attend the Ceremony honoring the God.

After the 1949 Chinese revolution, refugees from the 1950s Anti-Rightist Movement settled in the area west of Qinghai Lake. After the Chinese economic reform in the 1980s, increasing numbers of Tibetans began to migrate to the lake because of business opportunities. However, the increased human density caused ecological stress, as "fresh grass production in Gangcha County north of the lake had declined from a mean of 2,057 kilograms per hectare to 1,271 in 1987". In 2001, the State Forestry Administration of China launched the "retire cropland, restore grasslands" (退耕，还草) campaign and started confiscating Tibetan and Mongol pastoralists' guns in order to preserve the endangered Przewalski's gazelle that they had been encroaching upon.