青海省简称"青",因境内有中国最大的内陆咸水湖青海湖而得名。青海省位于中国西部的青藏高原东北部,与新疆、甘肃、四川、西藏四省区比邻。青海省是长江、黄河、澜沧江的发源地,被誉为"江河源头"。全省面积72万平方公里,居全国各省(区)第四位。其中草地3160万公顷,耕地58.99万公顷,森林25万公顷,其余为高山、湖泊、荒漠、戈壁、冰川等。
青海省自然风光雄奇壮美,具有青藏高原特色。全省已开发出旅游景点10多处。有"百鸟的王国"的青海湖鸟岛,"高原的西双版纳"孟达自然保护区,藏传佛教著名寺院湟中塔尔寺,伊斯兰教西北四大清真寺之一的东关大寺,阿尼玛卿大雪山等,是登山、旅游的好去处。"海藏咽喉"的日月山和全国最大的人工水库龙羊峡、都兰国际狩猎场、坎布拉森林公园等旅游景点吸引着众多游客。
Qinghai Province got its name from its Qinghai Lake, the largest inland saltwater lake in the country. It lies on the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in west China, bordering Gansu, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Tibet. As the origin of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers, Qinghai has an area of 720,000 sq km. Its territory includes 31.6 million ha of grassland, 589,900 ha of cultivated land and 250,000 ha of forests. The remaining are mountains, lakes, deserts, gobi and glaciers.
Qinghai features ethnic custom tours unique to the plateau. It has over ten scenic spots including the Birds Islet, the Mengda Natural Reserves, the Ta'er Monastery (Kumbum Monastery) in Huangzhong County, the Dongguan Great Mosque, the snow-capped A'Nyemaqen Mountain, the Sun-and-Moon Hill, and Longyang Gorge Reservoir, the largest artificialreservoir in China, and the Dulan International Game Land and the Kanbula National Forest Park.