Qinghai Lake located in the northeast of the 4,500-metre-high Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Qinghai Lake is a blue mirror nestled between snowy mountains and grasslands. Measuring 4,400 square kilometres, it is the largest inland saltwater lake in China.

ID：107679-01472 The bird island in Qinghai Lake     Picture Sources：ccnpic.com Jing Aiping

Highlights of the lake include the Bird Island, a peninsular in the westernmost part of the lake and the most impressive sight, especially in season. For most of the summer rare species can be seen here in great multitude.

This huge expanse of deep, salty liquid receives its name, literally Blue Sea Lake, from the vastness of its azure waters. It is the largest salt water lake in China, with a circumference of 360km and a surface area of over 4,500km squared. In ancient times the lake was known as the Western Sea, and in Tibetan it is known as Koko Nor.

ID：109645-01157 Qinghai Lake     Picture Sources：ccnpic.com  Zhang Jiawei

The lake has a number of attractions that draw travellers in this region in. Ornithologists, campers, hikers, botanists, swimmers, sailors, fishermen, loners and nomads all find areas of interest around the lake. The beauty here lies in its salty vastness and the remote peace that it instills. The colours that can be found around the lake are of purity and contrasts, from the deep yellows of oil seed rape against the cold blues of the lake to the dark greens of distant mountains against the fluffy white of bilious clouds.

The bird island in Qinghai Lake is the most charming place in the Qinghai Lake, and it is a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds, too. Birds of different species such as geese, gulls, sandpipers and cormorants, nest on the island and the sound of its calls, twitters are carried far and away.

ID：109933-00003 Qinghai Lake     Picture Sources：ccnpic.com  Song Yue

ID：107679-01449 The bird island in Qinghai Lake    Picture Sources：ccnpic.com Jing Aiping

Every summer, cool breezes sweep across the lake, where thousands of birds live in nearby wetlands. Yaks and sheep graze on the lakeside grassland. The scenery is as amazing as one can imagine. (CCNPIC Xuesen Gao)