Qinghai Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Qinghai. It is largely inhabited by Tibetans. It has an area of 188,794 kilometers and its capital is Jiegu township (Jiegu Zhen) in Yushu county, which is the place of the old Tibetan trade mart of Jiegu. The official source of the Yellow River lies within the prefecture. Historically, the area belongs to the cultural realm of Kham in eastern Tibet.

Geography

Almost all of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is located in the uppermost part of the basins of three of Asia's great rivers - the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the Mekong, although in the remote areas of the far west of the prefecture, and along its northern borders, there are some endorheic basins as well. A significant portion of the prefecture's territory is incorporated into the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, intended to protect the headwaters of the three great rivers.

Most of the prefecture's population lives in its southeastern part: primarily in the valley of the upper Yangtze (whose section within the prefecture is known in Chinese as the Tongtian River), and some also in the valley of the Mekong. The highlands away from these two rivers, as well as the western part of the prefecture, have very little population.

Economics: agriculture, trees, wheat, millet.

Transportation
 
The eastern part of the prefecture, where most of its population lives, is served by the China National Highway 214 and the recently constructed (opened 2009) Yushu Batang Airport.

The far western part part of the prefecture, which is hundreds of kilometers away from the prefecture's eastern "core", and has very little population, is crossed by China National Highway 109 and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

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