Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County is an

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. The two are essentially identical except in name. There are 117 autonomous counties and three autonomous banners. The latter are ...

under the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of Chi ...

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in i ...

Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The county borders

Qinghai Province Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...

to the south and

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 northwes ...

to the west. The westernmost

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there ...

of Gansu, the county has an area of , and a population of 10,545 as of 2010. The postal code is 736400.

History

The Aksai Kazakh Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee was set up in 1953, south of

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major s ...

. On April 26, 1954, the Aksai Kazak Autonomous Region was established. In 1955, it was renamed Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County.

Geography

The county lies on the northern edge of the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...

and has an average elevation of about 3,200 meters. The county is bordered by the city of Dunhuang to the north,

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

to the south,

Subei Mongol Autonomous County The Subei Mongol Autonomous County (; Mongolian: ) is an autonomous county within the prefecture-level city of Jiuquan in the northwest of Gansu Province, China, bordering Xinjiang to the west, Qinghai Province to the southeast and Mongolia's Gov ...

to the east, and

to the west. The Big Harteng River () and the Little Harteng River () both flow through the southern portion of the county. The , which actually comprises the Big Sugan Lake () and the Little Sugan Lake () is located in the county.

Climate

The county experiences an average annual rainfall of , an average annual temperature of and an annual frost-free period of 90 days.

Administrative divisions

The county governs one

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 o ...

and three

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, C ...

. is the county's sole town and administrative center. The county's three townships are , and .

Demographics

As of 2010, the county had a permanent population of 10,545, of which, 10,079 lived in . The county is the only Kazakh

in the province of

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...

. As of 2005, 41.3% of the county's population were ethnic Kazakhs, up slightly from the 40.7% recorded in 1996. Other ethnic groups in the county include the Han, the Hui, the Uighur, the

Tibetans The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans liv ...

and 6 other

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

Transport

China National Highway 215 China National Highway 215 (G215) (sometimes referred to as Gansu Provincial Highway 215) runs from Hongliuyuan, Gansu to Yushu, Qinghai. It was originally 641 kilometres in length and ran south from Hongliuyuan towards Golmud. As part of the ...

passes through the county, as does Gansu Provincial Highway 314. Golmud–Dunhuang Railway also passes through the county.

References

External links

XinhuaNet -- Aksay Kazak Autonomous County(in Chinese)
Kazak autonomous counties County-level divisions of Gansu Jiuquan {{Gansu-geo-stub