Wenquan (温泉, i.e. "Warm Springs") is a small settlement in the Qinghai Province of China. Administratively, it is part of Tanggula Town, which is an exclave of Golmud County-level city, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is one of the small settlements that were constructed to serve China National Highway 105 (the main road into Tibet), and, later the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
The settlement is located in the area where the highway and the railway cross the Tanggula Mountains, the mountain range in the center of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is located a few tens of kilometers north of the Tanggula Pass, where the road and the railway enter from Qinghai Province into the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is one of the highest towns in the world at 5,100 m (16,732 ft) above sea level. It was built by the Chinese in 1955.[1]
Some 20–30 km to the north of Wenquan, in the same highway/railway corridor, detailed maps (e.g., on Google Maps) show Wenquan Military Station (温泉兵站).
According to bicycle tourists who visited the place in 2000, Wenquan, like other towns in the region, was "small. Just a few buildings." There were indeed warm springs in the area. They described the location, based on their maps, as being "at 4800+ metres" elevation.[2]