# Haidong

36°28′24″N 102°24′38″E﻿ / ﻿36.4734°N 102.4106°E﻿ / 36.4734; 102.4106
Haidong (Chinese: 海东市; pinyin: Hǎidōng shì) is a prefecture-level city of Qinghai province in Western China. Its name literally means "east of the (Qinghai) Lake." On 8 February 2013 Haidong was upgraded from a prefecture (海东地区) into a prefecture-level city. Haidong is the third most populous administrative division in Qinghai after Xining and Golmud.
Haidong was historically populated by the Qiang people, although the area has been inhabited as early as 6000 years ago. In 121 BC the area was captured by Huo Qubing, defeating the Xiongnu. In 399 AD the Xianbei founded the state of Nanliang, with its capital in Ledu District.

## Geography

Haidong is the easternmost division of Qinghai province. It is bounded by Xining, the provincial capital, to the West, the Datong River Valley to the north, Gansu to the east, and the Yellow River to the south. Mountain ranges tower above the district of which the main valley is the one of the Huang Shui (Tib. Tsong Chu), a major tributary of the Yellow River. This valley stretches from west to east and makes up - together with the area around Xining, the landscape which is called Tsongkha ("Onion Valley") by Tibetans. It has a total area of 13,100 square kilometres (5,100 sq mi).

## Climate

Haidong has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) characterised by warm to very warm summers, freezing but extremely dry winters, and large diurnal temperature ranges. Temperatures are warmer than anywhere else in Qinghai due to the relatively low altitude, although minima in winter still typically fall below −10 °C or 14 °F. Precipitation is low and mostly confined to the summer months: less than 45 millimetres or 1.8 inches of water equivalent typically falls between October and April inclusive, and less than 12 millimetres or 0.5 inches between November and March.
Climate data for Haidong (Ping'an District), elevation 2,125 m (6,972 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) | 22.4 (72.3) | 27.6 (81.7) | 30.1 (86.2) | 30.5 (86.9) | 32.2 (90.0) | 37.6 (99.7) | 35.1 (95.2) | 29.3 (84.7) | 24.7 (76.5) | 20.5 (68.9) | 13.8 (56.8) | 37.6 (99.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 2.4 (36.3) | 6.3 (43.3) | 11.6 (52.9) | 17.6 (63.7) | 21.2 (70.2) | 24.4 (75.9) | 26.2 (79.2) | 25.2 (77.4) | 20.3 (68.5) | 15.2 (59.4) | 9.4 (48.9) | 3.9 (39.0) | 15.3 (59.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −6.1 (21.0) | −2.1 (28.2) | 3.6 (38.5) | 9.6 (49.3) | 13.6 (56.5) | 17.1 (62.8) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.1 (64.6) | 13.6 (56.5) | 7.7 (45.9) | 1.1 (34.0) | −4.7 (23.5) | 7.5 (45.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −12.1 (10.2) | −8.4 (16.9) | −2.5 (27.5) | 3.1 (37.6) | 7.3 (45.1) | 11.1 (52.0) | 13.3 (55.9) | 12.9 (55.2) | 9.0 (48.2) | 2.6 (36.7) | −4.6 (23.7) | −10.6 (12.9) | 1.8 (35.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −21.9 (−7.4) | −18.9 (−2.0) | −14.6 (5.7) | −7.9 (17.8) | −1.2 (29.8) | 3.9 (39.0) | 6.5 (43.7) | 5.9 (42.6) | 0.1 (32.2) | −7.5 (18.5) | −15.6 (3.9) | −21.1 (−6.0) | −21.9 (−7.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.1 (0.04) | 1.3 (0.05) | 5.2 (0.20) | 15.1 (0.59) | 42.9 (1.69) | 52.4 (2.06) | 72.8 (2.87) | 68.3 (2.69) | 53.6 (2.11) | 20.6 (0.81) | 2.9 (0.11) | 0.7 (0.03) | 336.9 (13.25) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.1 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 5.5 | 10.2 | 13.1 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 12.4 | 7.2 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 86.6 |
| Average snowy days | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 24.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 45 | 43 | 42 | 42 | 50 | 56 | 61 | 63 | 67 | 62 | 52 | 48 | 53 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 202.4 | 208.5 | 236.1 | 245.7 | 252.1 | 234.4 | 240.4 | 231.4 | 192.8 | 209.2 | 207.2 | 202.1 | 2,662.3 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 65 | 67 | 63 | 62 | 58 | 54 | 54 | 56 | 53 | 61 | 68 | 68 | 61 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||
Climate data for Haidong (Ledu District), elevation 2,021 m (6,631 ft), (1991–2020 normals) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 2.7 (36.9) | 6.6 (43.9) | 12.2 (54.0) | 18.3 (64.9) | 22.0 (71.6) | 25.3 (77.5) | 27.1 (80.8) | 25.9 (78.6) | 21.0 (69.8) | 15.9 (60.6) | 9.9 (49.8) | 4.0 (39.2) | 15.9 (60.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −5.5 (22.1) | −1.4 (29.5) | 4.4 (39.9) | 10.4 (50.7) | 14.4 (57.9) | 18.0 (64.4) | 19.9 (67.8) | 18.9 (66.0) | 14.4 (57.9) | 8.4 (47.1) | 1.8 (35.2) | −4.1 (24.6) | 8.3 (46.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −11.6 (11.1) | −7.8 (18.0) | −1.8 (28.8) | 3.6 (38.5) | 7.9 (46.2) | 11.8 (53.2) | 14.1 (57.4) | 13.7 (56.7) | 9.6 (49.3) | 3.1 (37.6) | −3.8 (25.2) | −9.9 (14.2) | 2.4 (36.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.2 (0.05) | 1.8 (0.07) | 7.1 (0.28) | 15.0 (0.59) | 42.3 (1.67) | 50.3 (1.98) | 69.5 (2.74) | 71.2 (2.80) | 52.1 (2.05) | 20.7 (0.81) | 2.9 (0.11) | 0.8 (0.03) | 334.9 (13.18) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.4 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 9.8 | 13.0 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 12.6 | 7.0 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 88.1 |
| Average snowy days | 4.1 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 25 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 47 | 45 | 44 | 44 | 52 | 57 | 61 | 64 | 69 | 64 | 55 | 51 | 54 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 190.5 | 194.9 | 225.8 | 236.8 | 242.7 | 228.7 | 231.7 | 221.3 | 185.6 | 195.3 | 195.7 | 194.2 | 2,543.2 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 61 | 63 | 60 | 60 | 55 | 52 | 52 | 54 | 51 | 57 | 65 | 65 | 58 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Administrative divisions

Map :
| Ledu Ping'an Minhe County Huzhu County Hualong County Xunhua County ||||||
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Population (2010 Census) | Area (km²) | Density (/km²) |
| Ping'an District | 平安区 | Píng'ān Qū | 102,975 | 750 | 137 |
| Ledu District | 乐都区 | Lèdū Qū | 260,185 | 2,821 | 92 |
| Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County | 民和回族土族自治县 | Mínhé Huízú Tǔzú Zìzhìxiàn | 350,118 | 1,780 | 197 |
| Huzhu Tu Autonomous County | 互助土族自治县 | Hùzhù Tǔzú Zìzhìxiàn | 356,437 | 3,321 | 107 |
| Hualong Hui Autonomous County | 化隆回族自治县 | Huàlóng Huízú Zìzhìxiàn | 203,317 | 2,740 | 74 |
| Xunhua Salar Autonomous County | 循化撒拉族自治县 | Xúnhuà Sǎlāzú Zìzhìxiàn | 123,814 | 1,749 | 70 |

## Demographics

As of 2005, the total population of Haidong is approximately 1,480,000. It is the most densely populated area of Qinghai, with almost a third of the province's population (its surface makes up only two percent of Qinghai).