General's Building

General's Building

Introduction This was the first building erected within a thousand miles of the Gobi Desert, marking the dawn of a new era in Golmud’s history. Shortly after the Spring Festival in 1954, General Mu Shengzhong led his transport corps on a five-day trek to the banks of the Golmud River. Here, the wonders of nature abounded, yet there were no streets, trees, or houses. The general and his troops set up camp here, building makeshift shelters across the wilderness.

It wasn’t until 1956 that residents began making adobe bricks and firing them to construct buildings, leading to the creation of this General's Building. From then on, Golmud bid farewell to its ancient wild state and embarked on transformative endeavors. What was once an endless Gobi Desert, dotted only with a few tents, evolved into today’s Golmud—the second-largest city in Qinghai, where “half the city is green with trees and half is covered with buildings.” The mirage on the Gobi finally became a reality.

Qinghai Golmud