Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture

Bortala (Chinese: 博尔塔拉蒙古族自治州; pinyin: Bóěrtǎlā Měnggǔzú Zìzhìzhōu) is an autonomous prefecture for Mongol people in the northern middle of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Western China. It has an area of 27,000 km2 (10,000 sq mi). Bole is its capital. "Boro tala" comes from the Mongolian language and means "brown steppe".

Bortala Prefecture

博尔塔拉州 · بۆرتالا ئوبلاستى‎
Autonomous prefecture
Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
博尔塔拉蒙古自治州
بۆرتالا موڭغۇل ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى‎
Alataw Pass in Bortala Prefecture
Bortala Mongol Prefecture (red) in Xinjiang (orange)
Coordinates (Bortala Prefecture government): 44°54′22″N 82°03′59″E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionXinjiang
Prefectural seatBole
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
ISO 3166 codeCN-XJ-27
Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese博尔塔拉蒙古自治州
Traditional Chinese博爾塔拉蒙古自治州
Mongolian name
Mongolian CyrillicБоротал-а-ыин Монгол өбэртэгэн жасақу жеү
Mongolian scriptᠪᠣᠷᠣᠲᠠᠯ᠎ᠠ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ
Uyghur name
Uyghurبۆرتالا موڭغۇل ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى
Oirat name
Oiratᡋᡆᠷᡆᡐᠠᠯᠠ ᡏᡆᡊᡎᡆᠯ ᡄᡋᡄᠷᡄᡃᠨ ᠴᠠᠰᠠᡍᡇ ᡓᡇᡇ
Borotala mongγol ebereen zasaqu ǰuu

Geography

Bortala is located in the southwestern part of the Dzungarian Basin. It occupies a V-shaped basin between the Dzungarian Alatau in the northwest and the Borohoro Mountains in the southwest.

The prefecture borders Kazakhstan to the north and west, and has an international border of 385 km (239 mi). To the east it borders Wusu City and Toli County of Tacheng Prefecture; to the south it borders Nilka County, Yining County, and Huocheng County of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

The prefecture has two large lakes, Ebi-Nur and Sayram Lake.

Administrative divisions

Bortala is divided into two county-level cities, Bole and Alashankou; and two counties: Jinghe County and Wenquan County. In addition, it is home to the Fifth Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and its 11 regiment-level farms / ranches.

Map
Name Hanzi Hanyu Pinyin Uyghur (UEY) Uyghur Latin (ULY) Mongolian Population (2010 Census) Area (km²) Density (/km²)
Bole[1] 博乐市 Bólè Shì بۆرتالا شەھىرى Börtala Shehiri ᠪᠣᠷᠢᠲᠠᠯ᠎ᠠ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ 235,585 7,802 30.19
Alashankou 阿拉山口市 Ālāshānkǒu Shì ﺋﺎﻻﺗﺎﯞ ﺋﯧﻐﯩﺰﻯ Alataw Shehiri ᠠᠯᠠᠭ ᠠᠭᠤᠯᠠ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ 10,000(?) 43 232.55
Jinghe County[1] 精河县 Jīnghé Xiàn جىڭ ناھىيىسى Jing Nahiyisi ᠵᠢᠩ ᠾᠧ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ 141,593 11,189 12.65
Wenquan County[1] 温泉县 Wēnquán Xiàn ئارىشاڭ ناھىيىسى Arishang Nahiyisi ᠷᠠᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ 66,502 5,862 11.34

History
Map of the area in the International Map of the World (1960)

The Tang dynasty created the Shuanghe Protectorate in this area. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties the area was the territory of the Oirats. Chahar Mongols were moved here during the Qing dynasty from Kalgan, while Torghuud Oirats moved eastwards from the Volga.

The People's Republic of China established the autonomous prefecture on July 13, 1954.

Demographics

There are 35 nationalities in Bortala. According to the 2010 census, 65% of the 443,680 inhabitants are Han Chinese, while the remainder are Mongol, Uyghur, Kazakh, Hui, or of other nationalities.[2]

Population by ethnicity (2010)[2]
Ethnicity Population %
Han 288,220 64.96%
Uyghur 59,106 13.32%
Kazakhs 44,417 10.01%
Mongol 25,125 5.66%
Hui 23,180 5.22%
Dongxiang 1,455 0.33%
Zhuang 345 0.08%
Xibe 273 0.06%
Tibetan 271 0.06%
Tujia 267 0.06%
Manchu 193 0.04%
Russian 114 0.03%
Uzbek 90 0.02%
Kyrgyz 74 0.02%
Others 550 0.12%
Total 443,680 100%

Economy

In 2004 the prefecture had a total gross domestic product of 3.69 billion Renminbi (including the XPCC 5th division), an increase of 11.9% over the previous year. Annual total imports and exports totalled US$ 554 million, an increase of 96.8% over the previous year. Average annual salary was 11000 Renminbi, an increase of 7.6%; average annual pure income per capita for agricultural workers was 3904 Renminbi, an increase of 10.8%.

Transport

Alashankou is a port of entry with both railroads and roads linking China with Kazakhstan; it is also one of China's national first-class port of entry (国家一类口岸). The volume of imports / exports passing through Alashankou accounts for 90% of the total for all of Xinjiang, and has been second to only Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia among land ports-of-entry in China for 8 days.

See also
  • Ethnic Mongols in China

References
  1. The official spelling according to 中国地名录. Beijing: SinoMaps Press (中国地图出版社). 1997. ISBN 7-5031-1718-4.
  2. Stanley W. Toops (August 2012). Susan M. Walcott; Corey Johnson (eds.). Eurasian Corridors of Interconnection: From the South China to the Caspian Sea. Routledge. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-1135078751.
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