Luqu, My Trip to Luqu County

Luqu is a county under the administration of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province. It is located in the southwest of Gansu and on the edge of the east of Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau at the cross borders among Gansu,Qinghaiand Sichuan. It has a population of over 30,000 with 84% being Tibetans.

A large part of Luqu county is at the sea level between 2900 and 4287 with the yearly average temperature at 2.3 degree and the sunshine time of 2222 - 2351 hours.

Luqu County is about 78km away from Hezuo, the capital city of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province. Langmusi Town is under the administration of Luqu, 90km to the southeast of Luqu.

"Luqu" in Tiebtan literally means "Tao River", one of the important tributaries of Yellow River. Tao River is 673km long with its headwater originating from Luqu and Qinghai, passing through Luqu ( 330km long in Luqu ), and entering Liujiaxia Reservior, which is linked to Yellow River. Tao River also has many small tributaries, like White Dragon River in Langmusi.

Luqu is a town on the fringe of Tibetan-Qinghai Plaetau with green alpine meadows in the west and the Tao River in the east. Two third of Luqu county is suitable for grazing livestock, like sheep and yak. Along the Tao River area, a patch of land is developed for agriculture.

Luqu has rich tourism resources with unique ethic features - Gahai Lake, Zecha Stone Forest, and Langmusi. Linked by National Highway No.213, Luqu is incorporated in the golden travel route of Xiahe, Langmusi, Ruoergai, Jiuzhaigou.

Now we enter the border of Luqu from Hezuo along National Highway No.213.

We are amazed by the alpine meadows along the National Highway No.213 within the border of Luqu.

Alpine meadows and grassland wildflowers

Gahai Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, an important wetland in the east of Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau. Gahai Lake is a part of the National Gahai Zecha Natural Reserve. Gahai Lake is under the administration of Luqu County, which is situated 90km north of Langmmsi and 260km south of Lanzhou.

With a population of over 3,000, the town is now mainly inhabited by Tibetans, Han and hui. The town of Langmusi is only composed of one main street with a streem known as “White Dragon River” passing by the street. The area of north of the streem belongs to Gansu Province ( Under the administration of Luqu ) while the south to Sichuan.