Da Qaidam

Da Qaidam is a county-level administrative zone in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern Qinghai province, China. It borders Gansu province to the north.

Da Qaidam 大柴旦 · ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ · ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་ Tatsaitan
Administrative Zone
Da Qaidam coach terminal
Location of Da Qaidam (red) in Haixi Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai
Da Qaidam Location of the seat in Qinghai
Coordinates (Qaidam Town government): 37°50′57″N 95°21′41″E
Country	China
Province	Qinghai
Autonomous prefecture	Haixi
Township-level divisions	2 towns
Seat	Qaidam Town
Area
• Total	21,000 km2 (8,100 sq mi)
Elevation	3,174 m (10,413 ft)
Population  (2020)
• Total	16,287
• Density	0.78/km2 (2.0/sq mi)
	[1]
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Website	www.dachaidan.gov.cn

Da Qaidam
Chinese name
Chinese	大柴旦行政委员会
Literal meaning	Big Qaidam Greater Qaidam
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dà Cháidàn Wade–Giles Ta Ch‘ai-tan
Tibetan name
Tibetan	ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་
Mongolian name
Mongolian script	ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠦ᠋ᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ ᠵᠠᠬᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨ ᠤ ᠵᠥᠪᠯᠡᠯ

Etymology

Map including Da Qaidam (labeled as Ta-ch'ai-tan) and surrounding region from the International Map of the World (1975)

Da Qaidam is a combination of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of 大 (dà), the Chinese word meaning "big" or "greater", and the Zangwen Pinyin romanization of the Tibetan name ཚྭ་འདམ (qaidam), meaning "salt marsh" and referencing the surrounding Qaidam Basin. The Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese transcription of Qaidam is "Cháidàn".

Administrative divisions

The area administered as Da Qaidam is divided into two towns. The seat of Da Qaidam's administration is Qaidam Town, which lies at an altitude of 3,174 m (10,413 ft) above sea level.^[2]

Name	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Tibetan	Wylie	Mongolian (traditional script)	Mongolian (Cyrillic)	Administrative division code
Town
Qaidam Town	柴旦镇	Cháidàn Zhèn	ཚྭ་འདམ་གྲོང་བརྡལ།	tshwa 'dam grong brdal	ᠴᠠᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠪᠠᠯᠭᠠᠰᠤ	Цайдам балгас	632857100
Xitieshan Town	锡铁山镇	Xītiěshān Zhèn	ཞི་ཐོའི་རི་གྲོང་རྡལ།	zhi tho'i ri grong rdal	ᠬᠣᠷᠭᠣᠯᠵᠢᠨ ᠠᠭᠤᠯᠠ ᠪᠠᠯᠭᠠᠰᠤ	Хорголжин уул балгас	632857101

Geography and climate

Da Qaidam borders Delingha to the east, Lenghu to the west, Golmud across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and Jiuquan (Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin.

Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than 350 metres (1,150 ft) higher than Golmud, its climate is also subalpine in nature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −13.4 °C (7.9 °F) in January and rises to 15.5 °C (60 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 1.88 °C (35.4 °F). Precipitation is very low, totaling only 83 mm (3.27 in) per annum, falling on 35 days, most of which are during the summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 65% in July to 82% in October, the area receives 3,257 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Climate data for Da Qaidam, elevation 3,173 m (10,410 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−3.2 (26.2)	0.8 (33.4)	5.6 (42.1)	11.7 (53.1)	16.2 (61.2)	20.2 (68.4)	22.9 (73.2)	22.4 (72.3)	17.5 (63.5)	10.3 (50.5)	3.5 (38.3)	−1.8 (28.8)	10.5 (50.9)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−12.2 (10.0)	−7.6 (18.3)	−2.2 (28.0)	4.1 (39.4)	9.5 (49.1)	13.9 (57.0)	16.6 (61.9)	15.7 (60.3)	10.4 (50.7)	2.3 (36.1)	−5.0 (23.0)	−10.7 (12.7)	2.9 (37.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−19.8 (−3.6)	−15.3 (4.5)	−9.7 (14.5)	−3.6 (25.5)	2.0 (35.6)	7.3 (45.1)	10.3 (50.5)	9.2 (48.6)	3.7 (38.7)	−5.0 (23.0)	−12.1 (10.2)	−17.8 (0.0)	−4.2 (24.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	2.6 (0.10)	1.8 (0.07)	3.5 (0.14)	2.5 (0.10)	10.3 (0.41)	23.8 (0.94)	27.5 (1.08)	14.2 (0.56)	8.1 (0.32)	1.8 (0.07)	1.4 (0.06)	1.3 (0.05)	98.8 (3.9)
Average snowy days	3.5	2.6	2.8	2.1	2.0	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	1.5	1.8	2.7	19.7
Average relative humidity (%)	43	34	29	27	31	38	41	38	36	32	36	41	36
Mean monthly sunshine hours	231.8	227.1	271.3	293.1	309.7	285.2	283.0	283.7	265.5	280.1	242.0	228.5	3,201
Percentage possible sunshine	75	74	72	74	70	65	64	68	72	82	81	77	73
Source: China Meteorological Administration[3][4][5]

Economy

As elsewhere in the Qaidam Basin, mining industries are of major importance in Da Qaidam. There is a lead mine in Xitieshan, the Xitieshan Lead Mine (锡铁山铅矿),^[6] as well as a number of salt lakes where potash and related products are extracted.

Transportation

China National Highway 215 and China National Highway 315 pass through Da Qaidam and meet here. Yinmaxia railway station and Xitieshan railway station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are both located within Da Qaidam.^[2]