- Qinghai Lake and Bird Islands: Located 150 km west of Xining, Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in China. It is a salt lake at 3,205 m (10,515 feet) above sea level in a depression of the Tibetan Plateau. Nearly 30 rivers and streams empty into Qinghai Lake. The lake encompasses 4,340 square kilometers with a storage of over 77.8 billion cubic meters of water. The perimeter of the lake totals more than 360 kilometers. The lake often remains frozen for three months continuously in winter. Qinghai Lake is sandwiched between Hainan and Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures in northeastern Qinghai. The lake is located at the crossroads of several bird migration routes across Asia. Many species use Qinghai as an intermediate stop during migration. At its northeast end are the "Bird Islands" (Cormorant Island and Egg Island), which have been bird sanctuaries of the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone since 1997. Every March and April, when ice starts to melt, over 20 kinds of migrating birds fly to the Bird Islands to breed. During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and bird eggs can be found everywhere. The visitors can hear the warbles of birds from miles away. 
- Dongguan Mosque:  Situated on Dongguan Boulevard in downtown Xining, Dongguan Mosque is one of the four largest mosques in northwest China. The main hall of the mosque, 1,102 square meters in area, is large enough to hold 3,000 people. It was built in the style of palace in ancient China, accompanied by two-story buildings on both sides. In front of the main hall is a 30,000-square meter square laid with slab stones. Every Friday, the Mosque receives 10, 000 Moslems who come to worship.
- Ta’er Mosque: Located 28km southwest of Xining city, Ta’er Monastery is one the six great lamaseries of the Yellow Hat Sect (Gelugpa) of Tibetan Buddhism. Also called Kumbum in Tibetan language, this monastery originated in 1379 from a pagoda, which marked the birthplace of Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of the Gelugpa Sect (Yellow Hat) in Tibetan Buddhism. Today thousands of disciples follow their Tibetan Buddhist leaders in devotion surrounded by the splendid culture and art of the lamasery. The most famous items are the “Three Treasures”. The first one is the yak butter sculptures. Made from Yak butter, the sculptures bring to life Buddhas, animals and flowers, varying from a few meters tall to less than a centimeter. Another treasure is the appliquéd embroidery displayed in the Great Hall of Sutr. The pictureare pieced together with silk and the Buddha in the pictures all have eyes made from rare stones. Murals form the last treasure of the lamasery.
     But the most interesting scene is perhaps the debate of the lamas. Standing in front of his teacher who is seated, the student must think of some difficult questions from Buddhist sutras, then clap his hands as loudly as possible and extend his right arm to his teach while raising the question.

 

 

The special geographic circumstance forms a long history and the splendid national culture. Qinghai becomes mysterious and holy. There are many minorities in Qinghai :Tibetan, Mongolian, Tu, Sala, Hui, Han and other nationalities. In human history, the different nationalities in Qinghai dedicate their lives to the development of Qinghai, adding an illustrious chapter to the annuals of Qinghai history, enriching the national culture. Folk art is an exquisite art works wonder in Qinghai national culture.
- Mask: There are three kinds of masks in Qinghai :QiangMu mask, suspension mask and Tibetan drama mask. QiangMu mask is used in the religious decrees.Suspension mask is the image hung on the temple wall worshiped by the common people. Tibetan drama mask is used for performing the Tibetan drama.In Qinghai, QiangMu is used widely, the suspention and Tibetan drama mask is less used in daily life. QiangMu is a sheer religious folk art.
- Mani stone piles: In Qinghai, the famous stone cutting is eRi Stone Buddhist Scripture Wall?in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.Big Tibetan Sculpture in Tibetan and a lots of Buddhas, Buddhist pagodas are cut on the wall which is made of millions of stones. It becomes the treasure-house of Tibetan culture, besides, MaNi Pile in Xinzai County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is called the biggest MaNi Pile in whole Tibetan areas.

 

Xining is an ancient city on the highland. For thousands of years, it is inhabited by the diligent Han people and other ethnic groups, including the Tibetans, Huis, Mongolians, Manchus, Tus, and Salars, who have written a long history and a brilliant culture, and developed production, which has in turn promoted the development of culinary culture.
     The local flavors include fried flour slices, hand-pulled noodles, dry-stirred noodles, roasted mutton, Wan Shengma's pastries, and Ma Ruyi's steamed buns.High up on the menu are such dishes as golden fish with fa vegetables, snow chicken with Chinese caterpillar fungus, stewed hump, boiled mutton, beef with chrysanthemum, fish with chrysanthemum, steamed huang fish, lotus fish, strewed mutton, stewed shashlik, and sheep tendon with ginseng.

 

- Embroidery: Qinghai nationalities like embroidery very much. The embroideries can be divided into four kinds according to the usage. .Practicality: such as shoes, socks, belt, pigtail tube, pillow etc, are the main parts of the embroidery;.Ornament: the embroideries on the money girdle, collar, pouch, packet, gauze mask(worn over nose and mouth).
- Tibetan Carpet: Tibetan carpet is a kind of Tibetan traditional handicraft. It is called Ka Dian in Tibetan.Qinghai is the place of production of Xining Wool, the finest carpet wool in the world .With the plentiful wool resources, it owns the advantages of making carpet. Qinghai Tibetan carpet possesses these characteristics : elasticity, soft quality and bright sheen because of the excellent material and superb technique.On the basis of the usage, Tibetan carpet can be divided into finished needle point carpet used in family, belly band carpet used in riding horses, tapestry and cushion used in lamaseries.With the improvement of people living standard, the usage of Tibetan carpet becomes more widely.Because of the different usage.
- Silverware: Silverware is one of the important artifacts and a practical article. Because of the great gravity, purity, wearability, oxidation and the luster, Qinghai nationalities like it very much and use silverware for dressing . Siverware is used widely among people.

 

The Lanqing Railway, running between Lanzhou, Gansu and Xining, the province's capital, was completed in 1959 and is the major transportation route in and out of the province. A continuation of the line, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway through Golmud, has become one of the most ambitious projects in PRC history. It has been completed in October 2005 and connects Tibet with the rest of China through Qinghai. Six National Highways run through the province. Xining Airport provides service to Beijing, Lanzhou, Golmud and Delingha.