Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Golog (Golok or Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ) is an autonomous prefecture occupying the southeastern corner of Qinghai province, People's Republic of China. The prefecture has an area of and its seat is located in Maqên County. Due to its special geographical location and natural environment, the entire autonomous preference has been included in the Chinese largest natural environmental protection area — the Sanjiangyuan National Park. Geography. Golog Prefecture is located in the southeastern part of Qinghai, in the upper basin of the Yellow River. Gyaring Lake and Ngoring Lake on the western edge of the prefecture  are considered to be the source of the Yellow River. However, these lakes do receive water from rivers that flow from locations even further west, in Qumarleb County of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The lay of the land of the prefecture is largely determined by the Amne Machin mountain range (max elevation 6,282 m), which runs in the general northwest- to-southeast direction across the entire prefecture, and beyond. The existence of the ridge results in one of the great bends of the Yellow River, which first flows for several hundreds of kilometers toward the east and southeast along  through the entire Golog Prefecture, along the southern side of the Amne Machin Range, until it reaches the borders of Gansu and Sichuan; it and then turns almost 180 degrees and flows toward the northwest for through several prefectures of the northeastern Qinghai, forming a section of the northeastern border of the Golog prefecture. Several sections of the Sanjiangyuan ("Sources of Three Rivers") National Nature Reserve are within the prefecture. Demographics. According to the 2000 census, Guoluo has 137,940 inhabitants with a population density of 1.81 inhabitants/km. Subdivisions. The prefecture is subdivided into six county-level divisions: six counties : Transport. Construction for Golog Maqin Airport began in September 2012 and the airport opened on 1 July 2016.