Beitun is a city in the north of

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, China. Administratively, it is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

under the direct administration of the regional government, though it is geographically located in

Altay Prefecture Altay Prefecture is located in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and a population of 561,667 (2000). It is a part of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. As of the 2000 census, Altay was the only major subdivisi ...

. Beitun is the headquarter of the 10th Division of

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团; abbreviated as 新疆兵团, or XPCC in English), also known as ''Bingtuan'', trading with the external name China Xinjian Group, is a state-owned enterprise and parami ...

and currently administered by the 10th Division. Aral implemented the "division and city integration" ( 师市合一, ''shī shì héyī'') management system, it shares the same leader group with the 10th Division.

Overview

Beitun was established on 28 December 2011, making it the youngest city in China at the time, later replaced by Sansha, which was established in 2012. It was established from portions of

Altay City Altay or Aletai is a county-level city in Altay Prefecture within Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, in far Northern Xinjiang, China. The city centre is located on the banks of Kelan River. Administrative divisions Altay City is divided into ...

. Beitun covers an area of , has a population of 76,300, and is located on the

Irtysh River The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob and is also the longest tributary in the world. The river's source lies in the Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern part of Xinjiang, China) cl ...

. Its name comes from the accolade "China's northernmost cultivation land" ( zh, s=中国最北的屯垦重地, p=Zhōngguó zuìběi de túnkěn zhòngdì).

Administrative divisions

Beitun contains 3 subdistricts and 3

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Transportation

As a terminus of the Kuytun–Beitun Railway, Beitun is an important transportation hub between Mongolia, northern Xinjiang, and Kazakhstan. Beitun Station, located a few kilometers southwest of the city center (), has direct passenger railway service from Urumqi. An extension of this railway toward

is under construction; it was expected to open in 2016.

Notes

References

{{authority control 2011 establishments in China County-level divisions of Xinjiang Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Populated places on the Irtysh River Populated places in Xinjiang Socialist planned cities