Qinghai (青海) · 5 places · 4 cities
5 places in Qinghai, grouped by city. Under each one are two figures from the survey: how much daily life still goes on there, out of 100, and how far it has been turned over to visitors, out of 6.
Most common here: Old town (2), Walled city (2), Old quarter of a city (1). See all provinces, or the background on old towns.
2 places
Xining (西宁)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Huangyuan Danga’er Ancient City (湟源丹噶尔古城)The “Tea Horse Trading Capital”, a 600-year-old frontier market town where Han merchants traded tea for Tibetan horses at 2,600m. The 800-meter old street holds 100+ Qing dynasty shops, including a still-operating 150-year-old vinegar brewery. The town’s unique “pai-deng” (lantern arrays) are national intangible heritage, lit every night.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · easy to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, quiet |
| Xining Dongguan Mosque & Mojia Street (西宁东关清真大寺周边·莫家街)The heart of Qinghai’s Hui Muslim community, a 600-year-old mosque district where 50,000 Hui, Tibetan, and Han residents live together. Dongguan Mosque (1380) is listed as the largest mosque in Qinghai, with 10,000 worshippers for Friday prayers. Nearby Mojia Street is a 600-year-old food street where locals eat hand-pulled noodles at dawn.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, quiet |
1 place
Hainan (海南)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Guide Ancient City (贵德古城)A 600-year-old Ming dynasty fortress on the Yellow River, known as “the small south of the Yangtze on the plateau,” with intact city walls, a 1380 Confucian temple, a 1590 mosque, and locals swimming in the crystal-clear Yellow River (the only place where the river is truly clear).Lived-in 70/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · easy to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, quiet |
1 place
Huangnan (黄南)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Tongren Longwu Town (Regong) (同仁隆务镇·热贡)The world capital of Tibetan thangka painting, a 4.2-square-kilometer valley town where 42,000 people make their living from art. Every household has a studio, every person is an artist (or married to one). Longwu Monastery (1301) anchors the town, and within a kilometre stand Tibetan Buddhist, Islam, Christianity, Taoism, and Confucianism coexisting.Lived-in 80/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · hard to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
1 place
Yushu (玉树)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Yushu Jiegu Town (玉树结古镇)The cultural heart of Kham Tibet, a 1,000-year-old trading town at 3,700m with a mani stone pile reported as the world’s largest (2.5 billion stones), Tibetan nomads trading yak butter, and the 2010 earthquake-rebuilt town where traditional Tibetan architecture and daily life continue.Lived-in 76/100 · Commercialised 1/6 · rarely visited from abroad · hard to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
Which of These Is Still a Town
The two scores narrow the list, and the last step is local: which lanes are worth the walk, which day of the week the place is itself, and where to stay inside the walls. Tell our local team the provinces you will be in and they will say which of these hold up.