A total of 90 precipitation samples were collected from individual precipitation events at the Qilian Alpine Ecology & Hydrology Research Station (Hulugou Station, 30 degrees 47'N, 90 degrees 58'E; 3 260 m a. s. l) located in the central Qilian Mountains from August 2012 to November 2013. All samples were analyzed for major cations (Na, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+), anions (Cl- , NO3- and SO4(2-)) and conductivity. Precipitation EC values ranged from 2.26 to 482 μS x cm(-1) with an average value of 41.9 μS x cm(-1). The precipitation was of SO4(2-) -Mg(2+) -Ca2+ type, which contributed > 70% to the total ionic concentration. The same as the precipitation alkalinity, precipitation events occurred around summer showed lower concentrations, while it had higher concentrations in winter and spring with little precipitation and larger wind speed. Enrichment factor (EF), correlation and factor analysis indicated that regional crustal aerosols and species from central Asian and northwestern China arid regions brought by the westerly circulation were the major sources for these ions, some dust from human pollution were the secondary sources, and the contribution of sea salt was the least due to the long distance transport. These characteristics could be also confirmed by the correlation between ionic concentrations and metrological data in the study region. It is also interesting that the precipitation chemistry was different under the different atmospheric circulation: the monsoon precipitation, the interaction precipitation events ( influenced both by monsoon and westerly) and the westerly precipitation.