Da Qaidam

Da Qaidam is an administrative committee in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern Qinghai province, China. It borders Gansu province to the north.
The area administered as is divided between the two towns of Qaidam itself also called Xitieshan The former is the seat of 's administration. It lies at an altitude of above sea level.
Name.
"Da Qaidam" is a combination of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of ("dà"), the Chinese word meaning "big" or "greater", and the Zangwen Pinyin romanization of the Tibetan name ("qaidam"), meaning "salt marsh" and referencing the surrounding Qaidam Basin. The Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese transcription of Qaidam is "Cháidàn".
Geography.
Da Qaidam borders Delingha to the east, Lenghu to the west, Golmud across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and Jiuquan (Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin.
Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an arid climate (Köppen "BWk"), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than higher than Golmud, its climate is also subalpine in nature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to in January and rises to in July, while the annual mean is . Precipitation is very low, totaling only per annum, falling on 35 days, most of which are during the summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 65% in July to 82% in October, the area receives 3,257 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Economy.
As elsewhere in the Qaidam Basin, mining industries are of major importance in Da Qaidam. There is a lead mine in Xitieshan, the Xitieshan Lead Mine as well as a number of salt lakes where potash and related products are extracted.
Transportation.
China National Highway 215 and China National Highway 315 pass through and meet here. Yinmaxia railway station and Xitieshan railway station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are both located within 