Golog (Golok[2] or Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Chinese: 果洛藏族自治州; pinyin: Guǒluò Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu; Tibetan: མགོ་ལོག་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་, Wylie: Mgo-log Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul) is an autonomous prefecture occupying the southeastern corner of Qinghai province, China. The prefecture has an area of 76,312 km2 (29,464 sq mi) and its seat is located in Maqên County. Due to its special geographical location and natural environment, the entire autonomous preference has been included in the Chinese largest natural environmental protection area — the Sanjiangyuan National Park.[3]
The lay of the land of the prefecture is largely determined by the Amne Machin mountain range (max elevation 6,282 m), which runs in the general northwest- to-southeast direction across the entire prefecture, and beyond. The existence of the ridge results in one of the great bends of the Yellow River, which first flows for several hundreds of kilometers toward the east and southeast along through the entire Golog Prefecture, along the southern side of the Amne Machin Range, until it reaches the borders of Gansu and Sichuan; it and then turns almost 180 degrees and flows toward the northwest for 200–300 km (120–190 mi) through several prefectures of the northeastern Qinghai, forming a section of the northeastern border of the Golog prefecture.
A. Gruschke: The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Amdo – Volume 1. The Qinghai Part of Amdo, White Lotus Press, Bangkok 2001. ISBN974-480-049-6
Tsering Shakya: The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947, London 1999, ISBN0-14-019615-3
