The Qaidam basin in Qinghai has quantities of natural gas, and the Tarim basin holds both oil and gas.

ECONOMIST: Go west, young Han

An earthquake in April that struck a main producing area in Qinghai province is part of the reason, traders say.

ECONOMIST: Rising prices in even the most exotic products

In Gansu and Qinghai Provinces and throughout north-central China, people of nine different ethnic groups share a music tradition known as Hua er.

UNESCO: Culture

He was born in 1935 in modern-day Qinghai, China.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The quake in the mountainous region had flattened homes -- many of which were made with wood and earth -- and other buildings in Jiegu and elsewhere in Yushu prefecture, a Tibetan region of Qinghai.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS