Who were the Qiang people mentioned in early Qinghai history?

In the context of early Qinghai history, the term Qiang was used by the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) as a collective designation for the various tribes inhabiting the region of Koko Nor and the surrounding areas.1

During this period, the Han government sought to exclude these tribes from their empire, even establishing a military outpost near the lake in 4 ce to secure the frontier. While the initial outpost was eventually abandoned, the Han later established the Xiping prefecture east of Koko Nor toward the end of the Han period to manage the region. These groups are historically significant as the ancestors of the tribes that settled in Tibet, and the region itself—known as Amdo in Tibetan—has long been culturally and historically linked to the Tibetan plateau.1