It is easy to have a quick look at China's past and present, but it takes time to gain a panoramic knowledge of China. The "Pan-oramic China" series is meant to assist readers, especially those overseas, in this respect. Each volume in the series focuses on a province, municipality or autono-mous region, describing, with illustrations, the outstanding char-acteristics of each area from dif-ferent perspectives.

Qinghai means "blue lake,"and indeed the name of the province comes from the pristine waters of the vast Qinghai Lake high on the plateau - the "roof of the world." Three great rivers rise in Qinghai: the Yellow River and the Yangtze River nurtured dazzling Chinese civilizations that sprang up along their valleys; the Lancang River starts here too irrigating first Tibet and Yunnan, before flowing through Southeast Asia as the Mekong.

Historically remote, but not isolated, both the southern route of the Silk Road and the Tang Tubo Road linking the Tang emperors in Chang an and the ubokings in Lhasa made their way through the heart of Qinghai.

In the gentle embrace of Sanjiangyuan - the Great Source of Three Rivers - are vast grasslands, rippling snow mountains, the devout pilgrims,sacred living creatures....

Foreword

The World's Biggest Nature Reserve

See the Waters of the Yellow River Leap down from Hq

The Thousand Year Search for the Source of the Yangtz

Where the Lancang River Begins

The Kunlun Mountains, Qinghai Lake and Longbao Ta

Glaciers, Permafrost and Wetlands

Sourceland of Three Great Rivers

"Third Pole" Climate

Unique Plateau Plants

Wildlife Paradise

Hoh Xil the Beautiful

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve

The Amazing Painted Pottery of Liuwan

Mystery of a Vanished Civilization

The Qiang n Earliest Inhabitants of the Yellow River Headwater

The Tuyuhun n Ancestors of the "DJ

Tuynhun and the Southern Silk Road

Riyue Mountain m Witness to Han-Tibetan Kinship

Nadun Festival and Lunziqiu

Wutu Dance of the Tu People

Tu Wedding Customs

Rainbow Clothing

Hua'er Gatherings and Shadow Plays

King Gesar -- the World's Longest Epic

Butter Flower Sculpture and Regong Arts

Cliff Carving in Hidden Valleys

Khampa Horseracing

Mani Stones and Sntra Walls

Appendix