Ghulja, China
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YiningThe official spelling according to (), also known as Ghulja ( ug, غۇلجا) or Qulja ( kk, قۇلجا) and formerly Ningyuan (), is a
county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a Administrative divisions of China#County level (3rd), county-level administrative divi ...
in Northwestern
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 and the seat of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. Historically, Yining is the successor to the ruined city of Almaliq in neighbouring Huocheng County. Yining is the third largest city in Xinjiang after
Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
and
Korla Korla,The official spelling according to also known as Kurla, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or from Mandarin Chinese as Ku'erle or Kuerle, is the second largest city in Xinjiang. It is a county-level city and the seat of ...
.


Area and population

The city of Yining is a county-level administrative unit located along
Ili River The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
. As of 2015, it has an estimated population of 542,507, with a total land area of . It is the most populous city in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The land area and population of the City of Yining saw an increase in 2003; the increase resulted from the transfer of two villages with some of land from the adjacent
Yining County Yining County ( zh, s=伊宁县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Gulja County ( ug, غۇلجا ناھىيىسى; zh, s=固勒扎县), is a county within the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyg ...
, which is a separate administrative unit from the city.


History


Note on historical place names

From 13-15th century it was under the control of Chagatai Khanate. Another Mongol empire—the
Zunghar Khanate The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from th ...
—established around Ili area. In the 19th and early 20th century, the word Kuldja or Ghulja was often used in Russia and in the West as the name for the entire Chinese part of the Ili River basin as well as for its two main cities. The usage of
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...
is fairly characteristic: it defines Kulja as a ''"territory in north-west China"'' bounded by the Russian border and the mountains that surround the Ili basin and it talks about two major cities of the region: * ''Kulja'' (i.e. today's Yining) or more specifically ''Old Kulja'' (elsewhere, also called ''
Taranchi Taranchi () is a term denoting the Muslim sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, China, whose native language is Turkic Karluk and whose ancestral heritages include Tocharians, Iranic peoples such as Sak ...
Kulja''), which was the commercial center of the region. * ''Suidun'' (i.e. Suiding, now called Shuiding) or more specifically ''New Kulja'', ''
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
Kulja'' or ''Ili'' (elsewhere, also ''Chinese Kulja''), the Chinese fortress and the regional capital. Until the 1860s, Huiyuan to the south of Suiding was the regional capital.


Qing dynasty

The fort of Ningyuan () was built in 1762 to accommodate new settlers from southern
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 ...
. The forts of Huining () and Xichun () built later in 1765 and 1780 were also located within the modern Yining City. The Sino-Russian Treaty of Kulja 1851 opened the area for trade. In 1864–66, the city suffered severely from fighting during the Dungan Revolt. The city and the rest of the Ili River basin were seized by the
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
ns in 1871 during
Yakub Beg Muhammad Yaqub Bek (محمد یعقوب بیگ; uz, Яъқуб-бек, ''Ya’qub-bek''; ; 182030 May 1877) was a Khoqandi ruler of Yettishar (Kashgaria) during his invasion of Xinjiang from 1865 to 1877. He held the title of Atalik Ghazi ("C ...
's independent rule of Kashgaria. It was restored to the Chinese under the terms of the
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) (), also known as Treaty of Ili (), was a treaty between the Russian Empire and the Qing dynasty that was signed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on . It provided for the return to China of the eastern part of th ...
. In 1888, the Ningyuan County was established. ''The Geographical Magazine'' in 1875 by Sir Clements Robert Markham stated:
What little industry Kulja possesses is all due to the Chinese, who transplanted the taste for art, assiduity and skilfulness of their pigtailed race, even to these western outskirts of "the celestial flowery dominion of the Middle." Had the Taranjis and
Kalmuks The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...
been left to themselves, or had they remained in a preponderating majority, Kulja would not be a bit farther advanced than either
Yarkand Yarkant County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous ...
or Aksu. The principal trades are the following:— founders, manufacturing kettles, plates, and other implements of a very primitive form; paper-makers, whose productions do not seem to be superior to the paper manufactured at the present time after Chinese patterns at
Khokand Kokand ( uz, Qo‘qon/Қўқон/قوقان, ; russian: Кока́нд; fa, خوقند, Xuqand; Chagatai: خوقند, ''Xuqand''; ky, Кокон, Kokon; tg, Хӯқанд, Xöqand) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the sou ...
and
Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
. There are, moreover, some confectionaries in which cakes of all shapes are baked of rice and millet, overlaid with sugar; also maccaroni-makers, the Taranjis being notoriously very fond of dried farinaceous food. In Eastern Turkistan there still exist many similar trades, and although their products are not equal to European articles of the same kind—I mean here the fabrics of the formerly western Chinese provinces— they are still said to be profitable. Finally among the tradesmen we may mention millers, vinegar manufacturers and potters. The number of factories amount to-day at Kulja to 38, wherein over 131 hands are occupied. To this of course other tradespeople have to be added, such as 169 boot-makers, 50 blacksmiths, 48 carpenters, 11 brass-founders, 3 silversmiths, 26 stone-cutters, and 2 tailors.


Republic of China

In 1914, the Ningyuan County was renamed Yining County to avoid confusion with other places in China named Ningyuan.


People's Republic

Yining became a separate city from
Yining County Yining County ( zh, s=伊宁县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Gulja County ( ug, غۇلجا ناھىيىسى; zh, s=固勒扎县), is a county within the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyg ...
in 1952. In 1962, major Sino-Soviet clashes took place along the
Ili River The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
. In 1997, in what came to be known as the Gulja Incident or massacre, the city was rocked by two days of demonstrations or riots followed by a Communist government crackdown resulting in at least 9 deaths following the execution of 30 Uighur activists.


Geography

Yining is located on the northern side of the
Ili River The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
in the Dzungarian basin, about east of the border with
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 ...
and about west of
Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
. The Ili River valley is far wetter than most of Xinjiang and has rich grazing land. The City of Yining borders on Huocheng County in the west and the
Yining County Yining County ( zh, s=伊宁县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Gulja County ( ug, غۇلجا ناھىيىسى; zh, s=固勒扎县), is a county within the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyg ...
in the east; across the river in the south is
Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County (; Xibe language, Xibe: , Cabcal Sibe beye dasangga siyan, also transliterated as ''Chapchal'', ug, چاپچال شىبە ئاپتونوم يېزىسى; kk, شاپشال سىبە اۆتونوميالى اۋدانى) ...
.


Climate

Yining (Gulja) has a
semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
( Köppen ''BSk''), without the strong variation in seasonal precipitation seen across most of China. Dry and sunny weather dominates year-round. Winters are cold, with a January average of . Yet the influence of the Dzungarian Altau to the northwest and Boroboro Mountains to the northeast helps keep the city warmer than more easterly locales on a similar latitude. Summers are hot, with a July average of . Diurnal temperature ranges tend to be large from April to October. The annual mean temperature is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 53% in December to 73% in August and September, sunshine is abundant and the city receives 2,834 hours of bright sunshine annually.


Administrative divisions

The administrative divisions of Yining include eight
subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...
, two
towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
, and seven townships (the below names are pinyin transcriptions may not necessarily be the official names):


Economy

The city's nominal GDP was approximately 20.9 billion
RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
(US$3.1 billion) as of 2015 with an annual increase of 7.6%.The nominal GDP per capita was approximately 38,805
RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
(US$5976). Yining is the chief city and the agricultural and commercial center of the
Ili Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to: Abbreviations * Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent * Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics * Influenza-like illness * Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
valley. It is an old commercial center trading in tea and cattle and it is still an agricultural area with extensive livestock raising. It has fruit orchards. Iron, coal and uranium are mined nearby.


Transportation

* Regular bus service is available to other cities in the region and taxis are available locally. * Yining Airport is located several kilometers north of the city. * The Jinghe-Yining-Horgos Railway, an electrified railway from Ürümqi to Yining to Khorgos on the China-Kazakhstan border was finished in the late 2009. Daily passenger service - an overnight Ürümqi-Yining train service began on July 1, 2010. *
China National Highway 218 China National Highway 218 (G218) runs from Yining, Xinjiang to Ruoqiang, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. It is 1,067 kilometres in length and runs southeast from Yining towards Ruoqiang. The road starts at the Kazakh border. ...
* China National Highway 312


Culture

Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture Museum, opened in Yining in 2004, is one of Xinjiang's most important museums. In fact, at the time it opened it became, in the words of a Western scholar, the "only modern museum" in Xinjiang. (Xinjiang of course also has the provincial museum in
Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
; but at that time point, its old building had been demolished, while its replacement was still under construction). The museum houses archaeological and ethnological artefacts from throughout the prefecture.A TALE OF TWO CITIES: NEW MUSEUMS FOR YINING AND URUMQI
''CHINA HERITAGE NEWSLETTER'', No. 3, September 2005


Notable persons

* Muyesser Abdul'ehed *
Dawut Abdurehim Dawut Abdurehim (1974 - ) is a Uyghur refugee best known for the more than seven years he spent in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Abdulrehim is one of 22 Uighurs who have been held in Guantanamo for many years despit ...
*
Edham Mamet Edham Mamet (May 4, 1975 - ) (also Nag Mohammed) is a Uyghur refugee best known for the more than seven years he spent in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001. Edham Mamet ...
*
Masud Sabri Masud Sabri, also known as Masʿūd Ṣabrī ( ug, مەسئۇت سابرى, مسعود صبري; zh, s=麦斯武德·沙比尔, t=麥斯武德·沙比爾, p=Màisīwǔdé·Shābì'ěr; 1886–1952), was an ethnic Uyghur politician of the Republi ...
*
Sanubar Tursun Sanubar Tursun (; born 1971) is a Uyghur female singer-songwriter, famous ''dutar'' player and researcher for Uyghur Muqams. Tursun released her first album in 2000. She was a judge in the Uyghur language '' The Voice of the Silk Road''. She wa ...
*
Shohrat Zakir Shohrat Zakir ( ug, شۆھرەت زاكىر; born August 1953) is an ethnic Uyghur politician of China and the former Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary of Xinjiang from ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Yining City Government


(Borders shown as they were before the annexation of the villages of Dadamutu ( on the map) and Panjin ( on the map) in 2004) {{Authority control Populated places in Xinjiang Populated places along the Silk Road Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture County-level divisions of Xinjiang