Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, is a city of 1 million people located on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, 2000km west of Beijing. The city was an important waypoint on the historic Silk Road, and this is reflected in the ethnic diversity of the population, which includes people of Hui, Tibetan and Mongol ethnicity. While the city's economy once rested on the pastoral traditions of the region, it is now being driven by the government's western development policies, and has important capacities in electro-mechanical engineering, chemicals and metallurgy.

Xining's attractions are both historical and scenic: the famous Kumbum Monastery lies not far away to the southwest, while thousands of visitors are drawn by the wild beauty of Qinghai Lake, also known as Koko Nor, a high-altitude salt lake famous for its bird life, located 150km to the northwest of the town.

The cuisine reflects the ethnic diversity of the populace and the mountainous, arid nature of the terrain. Some specialties are chicken cooked with aweto and lamb cooked with mushrooms. The Xining climate is very dry: snow is rare, but that doesn't mean warm winters! January temperatures plunge far below freezing at night, but come up to about 0C (32F) in the afternoons. Summer days are mild.