With the coming of November, flocks of sheep can walk safely on the ice.

    Producing her magic mirror, she did indeed see the image of her home, and realizing that she would probably never be able to return, tears began to roll down her cheeks. Just then she remembered her sacred mission of cementing friendship between the two ancient kingdoms through marriage and cast the mirror away. Where the mirror landed. a beautiful lake appeared-the Qinghai Lake. The princess pressed on across the mountains. As she trudged on westwards, her tears became a river flowing west. following her footsteps. Now it is known as the Daotang River.

    In history, people referred to the Qinghai Lake as the "West Sea". while the Tibetans. Mongolians and the ancient Beihe tribe all had their own names for the lake. Western Queen Mother was said to be the female chieftain of the ancient Qiang tribe who lived in the lake area 3, 000 years ago. Once she invited King Mu of Zhou, who came in a carriage drawn by eight horses to visit Yaochi-another name for the Qinghai Lake.Western Queen Mother is seen as the goddess of the lake and the myriads of migrating birds that keep returning there year after year are the same birds that kept a lookout for King Mu of Zhou.

    Beautiful legends like this one made the Qinghai Lake sacred in the eyes of emperors. According to historical documents. Many emperors, starting with Tang Dynasty rulers, came here to offer sacrifices and erect memorial tablets to show their respect for the lake. In the eighth century, the Tang Emperor Xuanzong gave the god of the lake the title "Duke of Guangrun" and formally named the water Qinghai Lake. Lake worship ceremonies became regular and elaborate established events during the Qing Dynasty(1 644-1911), ceremonies used to be conducted at remote locations began to be held at the lakeside.

    People believed that the l 8^th  day of the 7th lunar month was the birthday of

During July and August,rape comes into full flower, as the Qinghai Lake shows off its most dazzlingly beautiful scenery.

    The legends are beautiful to be sure. but the facts, as we all know, are that the Qinghai Lake is China's largest inland lake and its largest salt water lake. It was created, some 40 million years ago, as a result of the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates and the lifting of the Himalayan Sea to create the mountain chain. Geological studies show that rivers used to empty into the 1ake and then drained out into the ancient course of the Yellow River in the southeast. Later, continued movement of the earth's crest saw the rising of the landmass east of the lake which blocked the flow of the lake water, creating a drainless lake which only received water but had no outflow.

    Being 3,260 meters above sea level.and with a circumference of 360 kilometers.the lake has a water area of 4, 340 square kilometers and contains 77.8 billion cubic meters of water. it is encircled by mountains on all sides¡«the Datong Mountain in the north, the South Qinghai Mountain in the south, the Xiangpi Mountain in the west and the Sun and Moon Mountain in the east. The east-west flowing Daotang River empties into the lake. People who have never been there often imagine that its water is blue, but come close, you'll discover that the lake water is by no means a single color--at different times of day, during different seasons, and when viewed from different angles, its waters appear in different colors--light green, blue, green gray, orange, yellow....so wide a range of different colors in a single lake casts light on why it was referred to as the "Fairy Sea" during the Han Dynasty(206BC-AD 220)some two thousand years ago and why it was described as "a scene that rightly belongs in Heaven."

This scene can only be witnessed between March and May when birds come over here to breed on the lakeshore and islets.

Przewalski's gazelles are amongst the world's most endangered animals, with a population of only about 300.

    The fact is that adequate snowfall in winter and spring and ample precipitation in summer and autumn provide plentiful water resources for grass around the lake, making it a vast and fertile grazing pasture. The "Qin horses" raised locally were known for their strong bodies and fast speed as long as 2,000 0r more years ago during the Warring States Period(220-280). During the Sui Dynasty(58 1-618), people cross-bred the horse here with Kazak and Fergana horses to develop a unique breed known as the Qinghai horse. which was most popular for fighting wars. During the Tang Dynasty that followed, the Sun and Moon Mountain became a place for horse and tea trading and the horses thus bought were enlisted in the cavalry.

    During the Tianbo reign period(742¡ª7561 of the Tang Dynasty, forces under the command of the famous general Gegehan launched a surprise attack by night and took Shib0, breaking Into the heart of the Tubo Kingdom and occupying the area around the lake. They had a fortress erected on the Mid-lake Island, but with the passage of time, there is no trace of it visible. The islet, surrounded by water, remote from the "dust of the world,"is like a beautiful Buddhist holy ground and as early as the Han Dynasty, religious devotees began to have temples built there. When the lake froze over, stocked up with food supplies, they would CROSS to the islet to meditate and recite Buddhist sutras, and this tradition is still followed today, as Buddhist monks worship Buddha and incant sutra. in their pursuit of Buddhahood.

    There are three other islets in the lake. Actually they are three huge rocks, known to locals as the "cooking pot supporting rocks,"It is said that when the Tang Dynasty monk Xuan Zang passed here on his journey to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures, he placed his cooking pot on the rocks. Their distance from the shore has so far protected the islets from human intrusion and allowed them to remain bird paradises.

    The most charming islands in the lake are the Egg Island and the Haixipi Island, both lying in the northwest of the lake, not very far from the oasis of Buh River, the largest of its kind, whose water empties into the lake. Facing each other. the two

Perhaps to escape the hassle of migrating birds on Egg lsland, cormorants build their homes on the Haixipi lsland on the opposite side of the Qinghai Lake.

    The Egg Island, also known as the Lesser West Hill, rises barely 7,6 meters above the water level. Small as it is, it is home to the greatest number of birds, over a hundred thousand of them, including the bar-headed goose, great black-headed gull and red-neck gull. Every spring, huge flocks of these birds come to this traditional home of theirs to build nests and raise their chicks. The whole islet is densely populated with birds and many bird eggs have given rise to its name.   

    The Haixipi Islet,  high in the east and low in the west, is four times the size of the Egg Island, roughly 4.6 square kilometers. Its relatively flat terrain means there are large numbers of visitors. On its eastern side edge, a huge rock stands over the water like a great bell, its back thickly covered with cormorant nests. It looks just like a cormorant fortress in the Qinghai Lake.

    The majority of the population of the Bird Island are birds rather than human residents. With the coming of spring and of warm air currents from the Indian Ocean. birds from the islands of South Asia fly north across the Himalayas during their annual migration. For many the Qinghai Lake is their destination and the Bird Island is paradise for them. For as far as the eye can see, there i s the spectacular of thick flocks of birds wheeling through the air, busy hunting food, building nests, laying and hatching eggs. This unique sight has made the island the most popular tourist spot on the Qinghai Lake.

    The main food for these birds is a kind of carp that thrives in the waters of the Qinghai Lake; it is unique to the lake and famous for its tenderness and flavor.

    The lake is surrounded by vast expanses of pastureland where herds of sheep and cattle graze. Generation after generation of Tibetan people live around this lake.