Huocheng County

Huocheng County
霍城县
قورغاس ناھىيىسى
County

Location of Huocheng County (pink) in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (yellow) and Xinjiang (light grey)
Coordinates: 44°00′36″N 80°48′28″E / 44.01000°N 80.80778°E / 44.01000; 80.80778Coordinates: 44°00′36″N 80°48′28″E / 44.01000°N 80.80778°E / 44.01000; 80.80778
Country People's Republic of China
Autonomous region Xinjiang
Autonomous prefecture Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
Township-level divisions 5 towns
3 townships
2 ethnic townships
County seat Shuiding (水定镇)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard)
Huocheng County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 霍城县
Traditional Chinese 霍城縣
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 霍尔果斯县
Uyghur name
Uyghur
قورغاس ناھىيىسى

Huocheng County (Chinese: 霍城县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Korgas County (Uyghur: قورغاس ناھىيىسى‎ ; Chinese: 霍尔果斯县), is situated within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and under the administration of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. It is located between Yining and the border city Khorgas, occupying an area of 5,466 km2 (2,110 sq mi) and has a population of 360,000 (2004 estimate). Including the Han and Uyghur nationalities, there are twenty nine ethnic groups living in the county.

North of Huocheng County is Wenquan County; to the south lies the Ili River. Its Western side is Khorgas City; Yining lies about 45 km (28 mi) to the east.

History

Within Huocheng County lies the important ruined site of ancient Almaliq. The mausoleum of the first khan of Moghulistan Tughlugh Timur is within the county as well.

In the 1760s nine fortresses were built in the Ili River Basin, and four of them were located within the modern Huocheng County. Huiyuan was the headquarter of the General of Ili and as such it was the military and administrative center of Xinjing until the 1860s.

Suiding County (绥定县) was established in 1888 with Suiding as county seat. In 1914 the western area of Shuiding County was organized into Khorgas County, later abbreviated to Huocheng County, with Gongchen (Khorgas) as county seat. In 1965 Suiding was renamed Shuiding. In 1966 Shuiding County merged into Huocheng County with Shuiding as the county seat of the new Huocheng County. In 2014 Khorgas became a county-level city separate from Huocheng County.

Administrative divisions

Tughlugh Timur Mausoleum (zh), some 30 km northwest of the county seat

The county includes five towns and four townships.

The towns:

  • Shuiding / Süydüng (水定镇) (the county seat);
  • Qingshuihe / Chingsixoza (清水河镇),
  • Lucaogou / Losigung (芦草沟镇),
  • Huiyuan / Küre (惠远镇),
  • Sarbulaq (萨尔布拉克镇, Sarbulaq)

Townships:

  • Lengger (兰干乡),
  • Sandixoza (三道河乡),
  • Sengung (三宫乡),
  • Dashigu (大西沟乡).

Economy

In agriculture, the local population cultivate wheat, corn and other crops including sugar beet, cotton, tobacco, apples, animal husbandry with cattle and sheep.

The main minerals extracted in the area include coal, phosphorus, iron, gold, silver, copper, limestone, Iceland spar and marble, etc.

Transport

Huocheng is served by China National Highway 312 and the Jinghe-Yining-Khorgas Railway.

There is a border crossing into Kazakhstan at Khorgas, where the road continues to Zharkent in Panfilov District.

The Jinghe–Yining–Khorgas Railway through Huocheng county was completed in 2010, reaching practically to the Kazakhstan border. There are plans to construct a connecting railway line on the Kazakh side, creating China's second railway link to Central Asia besides Alashankou.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 中国2010年将建成第二条通往中亚铁路_星岛环球网.
  • Huocheng County information, at the site of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (in Chinese)
  • County Map (in Chinese)
  • Thoughts about the history of Yining City and Huocheng County (the writer's point of view on how the places should be called) (in Chinese)
  • Henry Lansdell, "Russian Central Asia: Including Kuldja, Bokhara, Khiva and Merv", vol. I. Full text available at Google Books; there is also a 2001 facsimile reprint of the 1885 edition, ISBN 1-4021-7762-3. (Chapters XIV-XVI in Volume I describe Lansdell's visit to the area in the early 1880s, soon after the Russian withdrawal). (in English)
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