Millets and Other Grains · FFET10443
Qingke (highland barley)
A cold-tolerant hulless barley of the plateau, roasted and ground for tsampa and also used to brew alcohol.
Millets, sorghum, barley, oats, buckwheat and the other grains eaten as staples.
Qingke is a hulless barley and one of the main grains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is grown in Tibet, Qinghai, and parts of the highlands of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu. The grain is roasted and ground for tsampa, and it is also used for flatbreads, noodles, and qingke alcohol.
What
Qingke is hulless barley, one of the main grains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A common use is tsampa, made from roasted, ground grain; other uses include flatbreads, noodles, and brewing.1,3
When
An account of Tubo from the Tang period lists qingke alongside wheat, buckwheat, and beans as local crops. The passage gives no year for when qingke cultivation began, so it does not establish an earliest date.2
Where
Qingke is grown on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including Tibet, Qinghai, Ganzi and Aba in Sichuan, Diqing in Yunnan, and Gannan in Gansu.1,3,4
How
Qingke grows in cold highland fields. To make tsampa, the grain is roasted and ground, then mixed with butter tea or tea and shaped by hand into balls. It is also brewed into alcohol and made into flatbreads; Gannan also produces qingke noodles.1,3
Why
Qingke's cold tolerance suits highland cultivation and helps make it an important local staple, although its yield per unit of land is low.1
Impact and influence
A June 2026 report gives a national qingke growing area of 4.9307 million mu and production of 1.3863 million metric tons for 2025. An August 2025 report gives Tibet's 2024 growing area as 2.301 million mu and production as 888,000 metric tons, which Tibetan officials put at 47 percent and 64 percent of the national totals. The two sets of figures concern different years.3,4