Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western

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 ...

, People's Republic of China. It has an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of Aksu urban district. The name Aksu is Turkic for 'white water'. Aksu Prefecture has a long international boundary with

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Etymology

The name Aksu comes from the name of the Aksu River which is Turkic for 'white water'. The name is similar to that of the nearby

Zhetysu Zhetysu, or Jeti-Suu ( kk, , Жетісу, pronounced ; ky, ''Jeti-Suu'', (), meaning "seven rivers"; also transcribed ''Zhetisu'', ''Jetisuw'', ''Jetysu'', ''Jeti-su'', ''Jity-su'', ''Жетысу'',, National Geospatial-Intelligence Age ...

region which means "seven rivers". The name of Aksu Prefecture's Onsu County (Wensu) means "ten water" in Uyghur and other Turkic languages, and 'Kizilsu' in

Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture Kizilsu (also as Kezilesu; ; ug, قىزىلسۇ قىرغىز ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى; Kyrgyz: , , , ) is an autonomous prefecture of Kyrgyz people in the west of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, bordering with Kyrgyzstan and ...

means 'red water'- all of these names consist of a descriptor followed by 'su' (river; water).

History

In 717 AD, the Arabs, guided by their Turgesh allies, besieged Buat-ɦuɑn ( Aksu) and Dai-dʑiᴇk-dʑiᴇŋ (

Uqturpan Uqturpan County, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County (SASM/GNC romanization#Uyghur, transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang, Xinjian ...

) in the Battle of Aksu. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China The COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak o ...

, 214 Uyghur workers were sent to

Jiujiang Jiujiang (), formerly transliterated Kiukiang or Kew Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level city ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Geography

The prefecture occupies the northwestern part of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

and the southern slopes of the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

. The southern part of the prefecture is within the

Taklamakan desert The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and T ...

. Agriculture is only possible in the areas irrigated by the

Tarim River The Tarim River ( zh, p=Tǎlǐmù Hé, c=塔里木河; ug, تارىم دەرياسى, Tarim deryasi), known in Sanskrit as the Śītā, is an endorheic river in Xinjiang, China. It is the principal river of the Tarim Basin, a desert region of C ...

and its glacier-fed tributaries, the Aksu River and the

Muzart River The Muzart River () or Muzat River (; ug, مۇزات دەرياسى, translit=Muzat Deryasi) is a river in Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, a left tributary of the Tarim River. An early 20th-centu ...

. Aksu Prefecture surrounds

Aral, Xinjiang AralThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, ''SinoMaps Press'' 1997); is a sub-prefecture-level city surrounded by Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Aral means "island" in Uyghur. The city's name is also ofte ...

Administrative divisions

Aksu Prefecture is divided into 2

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and 8

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Demographics

As of 2015, 2,030,600 (80.2%) of the 2,530,506 residents of the county were Uyghur, 465,983 (18.4%) were

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...

and 33,923 were from other ethnic groups. As of 1999, 75.0% of the population of Aksu (Aqsu, Akesu) Prefecture was Uyghur and 23.7% of the population was Han Chinese.

References

{{Authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Xinjiang