Akqi County (also as ''Aheqi County''; ) is a
county
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 ...
in
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
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 ...
, China. It is under the administration of the
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 T ...
. The county has a
town
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 five
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
, six
communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...
and 25
villages
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
under its jurisdiction in 2018, its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
is ''
Akqi Town
Akqi Town (also as ''Aheqi Town''; ) is a town and the county seat of Akqi County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Located in the middle of the county, it covers an area of 1,454 kilometres with a population of 8,251 (as of 2018), of t ...
'' (). The county has a population of about 46,000 (as of 2018)
with main
ethnic groups
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
of
Kyrgyz,
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
and
Uyghur peoples
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia, Cent ...
.
The name of Akqi was from the
Kyrgyz language
Kyrgyz (; autonym: , tr. ''Kyrgyz tili'', ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia. Kyrgyz is the official language of Kyrgyzstan and a significant minority language in the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in X ...
, meaning ''white
achnatherum calamagrostis'' (). The ''Administrative Division of Akqi'' () was first established, it was named after its seat located in the ''Village of Akqi'' (). The county of Akqi is located in
alpine areas of the southern
hinterland
Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...
in Western
Tianshan. Its altitude is between , with a terrain characteristics of the "two mountains and one valley", its whole territory is in a mountain valley area, of which, highland accounts for 90 percent, farmland for five percent and water body for five percent.
The county covers an area of about ,
it borders with
Wushi County
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
in the east,
Keping County in the southeast,
Bachu County
Maralbexi County (Maralbeshi, Maralbishi, transliterated from ; ), Bachu County (), and ) the former long Chinese name as well, is located in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China and is under th ...
and
Atushi City in the south-west, the northern and western part of the county is adjacent to the
Kyrgyz Republic
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 east ...
with a border line of . The county seat is away from the regional capital
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 ...
by road.
History
The county of Akqi was part of the territory of ''Weitou State'' (), one of ''36 States of the
Western Regions
The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more spe ...
'' (), and part of
Protectorate of the Western Regions
The Protectorate of the Western Regions () was an imperial administration (a protectorate) of Han China in the Western Regions.
The "Western Regions" referred to areas west of Yumen Pass, especially the Tarim Basin. These areas would later b ...
(59 BC) in the
Han period
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. It was part of ''Weitou Prefecture'' () in ''Kucha Commandery'' () in the
Tang period
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, and part of Wushi County in the
Qing period
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-speaki ...
.
The ''Administrative Division of Akqi'' () was first established from part of
Wushi County
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
in 1940, it was named after its seat located in the ''Village of Akqi'' () in the present ''Karaqi Township'' (). In 1941, its seat was moved to Uq (), the present-day county seat of ''Akqi Town'' (). The ''Administrative Division of Akqi'' was upgraded to be as a county in 1944. The county was under the administration of
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
in 1950, as a county, it was amalgamated to the newly formed
Kyrgyz autonomous prefecture
Autonomous prefectures () are one type of autonomous administrative divisions of China, existing at the prefectural level, with either ethnic minorities forming over 50% of the population or being the historic home of significant minorities. A ...
of
Kizilsu
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 ...
in 1954.
Geography and Climate
The county of Akqi is high in the north and south, low in the middle, and tilted from west to east. Forming land features of terrain with two mountains and a valley, in the north, the ''Kuokexiale Maintain'' () is a southern branch of
Tianshan, with a maximum altitude of . To the south is ''Galatieke Maintain'' (), with its maximum altitude of . Between the two mountains is the ''Taushgan Valley'' (), from west to east through the middle of the county, above sea level. Agricultural oasis is mainly concentrated in the valley area, the mountain natural pastoral land accounts for 86% of the county area. The ''Taushgan River'' () originates from
Kyrgyz Republic
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 east ...
and has 19 tributaries with a total runoff of 2.421 billion cubic metres in the county, such as ''Uzuntux River'' (). The annual average temperature is , the average temperature in January is , and the average temperature in July is . The average annual precipitation is , with a
frost-free period of 156 days.
Population and ethnic groups
As of 2015, There was a population of 44,656 in Akqi County, accounting for 7.49% of
Kizilsu Autonomous Prefecture's population. Of that, minority population of 40,121, accounting for 89.84%, and
Han population of 4,535, accounting for 10.16%. The main minorities are
Kyrgyz and
Uyghur in the county. The Kyrgyz population was 38,765, accounting for 86.81%, and Uyghurs of 1,193, accounting for 2.67%. There were
Hui people
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...
of 80,
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
of 39 and others of 44.
Administrative divisions
The county was divided into a town and five townships, and six communities and 25 villages.
*
Akqi Town
Akqi Town (also as ''Aheqi Town''; ) is a town and the county seat of Akqi County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Located in the middle of the county, it covers an area of 1,454 kilometres with a population of 8,251 (as of 2018), of t ...
(), five communities and three villages.
*
Kulansarak Township (), five villages;
*
Saparbay Township (), three villages;
*
Somtax Township (), four villages;
*
Karaqi Township (), a community and three villages;
*
Karabulak Township (), seven villages.
Tourism
* Kyrgyz Non-material Cultural Town of Akqi County: Located in the western section of ''Jolangqi New Town'' (), the ''Kyrgyz Non-material Cultural Town'' () is a Kyrgyz folk culture village with an area of 1.5 sq kilomiters, it is a destination for Kyrgyz folk culture, consisting of
Manas culture, falcon culture, nomadism, kumz string instrument, Kyrgyz felt show and embroider. It is seven kilometers away from the old town of Akqi.
References
{{authority control
County-level divisions of Xinjiang
Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture