Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County (; Xibe: , Cabcal Sibe beye dasangga siyan, also transliterated as ''Chapchal'', ug, چاپچال شىبە ئاپتونوم يېزىسى; kk, شاپشال سىبە اۆتونوميالى اۋدانى) in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Northern

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, is the only Xibe

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. The two are essentially identical except in name. There are 117 autonomous counties and three autonomous banners. The latter are fo ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, bordering Kazakhstan's

Almaty Region Almaty Region ( kk, Алматы облысы, Almaty oblysy; russian: Алматинская область, Almatinskaya oblast) is a region in Kazakhstan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Its capital, from 1997 to 2022 was the ...

to the west. It has an area of 4,430 square kilometers and a population 160,000 (2000). ''Qapqal'' means "the granary" in the Xibe language.

Subdivisions

The Xibe, sent to garrison the area by the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, were divided into eight ''niru'' (companies); each ''niru'' established a settlement. The settlements are thus simply referred to as "First ''Niru''" through "Eighth ''Niru''", with the exception of the settlement established by the Sixth, which came to be known as Qapqal, thus giving the county its name.

Climate

Media

The county has one Xibe language newspaper, the '' Qapqal News''. A television station broadcasts a few programmes in Xibe as well each month, with

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, Uyghur and Kazakh language content for the rest of the time.

References

External links

County info page
at an Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture info site Autonomous counties of the People's Republic of China Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Sibe people {{Xinjiang-geo-stub