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 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, bordering with

Kyrgyzstan 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 ea ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. The prefecture has an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

of and its capital is

Artux Artux, Artush ( ug, ئاتۇش شەھىرى; ky, ارتىش, Артыш, Artysh), and officially rendered as Atuş ( zh, s=阿图什市, p=Ātúshí Shì),The official spelling according to is a county-level city and the capital of the Kyrgyz au ...

Etymology

Kizilsu, also spelled Kizil Su, refers to the Kezi River and means “red water” () in the Kyrgyz language, similar to the name of

Kyzyl-Suu, Kyrgyzstan Kyzyl-Suu ( ky, Кызыл-Суу, formerly known as ''Pokrovka'') is a village in the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. About 10km inland from Lake Issyk Kul on the A363 highway between Jeti-Ögüz resort and Barskoon, it is the capital of Jeti-Ö ...

. Kizilsu is transliterated into

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

as '', which is read in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

as Kezilesu (

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

-derived) and K'o-tzu-le-su / K'o-tzu-lo-su ( Wade-Giles derived). The name Kizilsu is similar to that of the nearby

Zhetysu Zhetysu, or Jeti-Suu ( kk, , Жетісу, pronounced ; ky, ''Jeti-Suu'', (), meaning "seven rivers"; also transcribed ''Zhetisu'', ''Jetisuw'', ''Jetysu'', ''Jeti-su'', ''Jity-su'', ''Жетысу'',, National Geospatial-Intelligence Age ...

region which means "seven rivers". The name 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 ...

and of Aksu Prefecture's Onsu County (Wensu), which means "ten water" in Uyghur and other Turkic languages, all these names consist of a descriptor followed by 'su' (river; water). Other nearby places with the word 'kizil' (red) in their names include Kiziloy,

Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves ( zh, t=克孜爾千佛洞, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas; ug, قىزىل مىڭ ئۆي, translation=The Thousand Red Houses; also romanized Qizil Caves, spelling variant Qyzyl; Kizil means 'red') ar ...

and Kizilto.

History

On July 14, 1954, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was established. In February 1955, the region was changed to a prefecture as Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture. In 1955, Barin,

Jamaterek Jamaterek (, from Mandarin Chinese Jiamatiereke ) is a township of Akto County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Located in the northeastern part of the county, the township covers an area of 44 square kilometers with a population of 11 ...

and

Ujme Ujme / Ojma ( or Yumai ) is a township of Akto County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Located in the northeast of the county, the township covers an area of 194 square kilometers with a population of 26,107 (as of 2015). It has 15 a ...

were transferred from

Yengisar County Yengisar County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (also known as Yangi Hissar); via Mandarin Chinese known as Yingjisha, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (Ying-chi-sha), is a county in the southwest of ...

Akto County Akto County (also known as Aqtu, Aktu, or Aketao; ) is a county in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The county borders Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and has two towns, 11 townships, four state-owned far ...

and Bulungkol was transferred to Akto County from Tashkurgan County in modern Kashgar Prefecture. In April 1990, the

Baren Township riot The Baren Township conflict was an armed conflict that took place between ethnic Uyghur militants and Chinese government forces in April 1990. It is unclear what happened during the armed conflict because reports of the incident vary greatly. C ...

occurred in

Barin Township Barin Township, also spelled Baren (Sourced to the ''Xinjiang Public Security Gazette'' (), pages 790-795) (; ), is a township of Akto County (Aketao), Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture (Kezilesu), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The t ...

Subdivisions

Operational Navigation Chart G-6, 7th edition

Kizilsu directly controls 1

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 county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and 3

counties 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 ...

Demographics

According to the 2000 census, Kizilsu has 439,688 inhabitants with a population density of 6.36 inhabitants per km². , 27% of the inhabitants of the prefecture were Kyrgyz. ;Population by ethnicity

Government

Party Secretary

* * * Zhang Jinbiao * * An Zhengyu ()

Governor

* Perhat Turdi (2007–2016) * Dilshat Kidirhan () since 2017 * Yueerguli Jiapaer ()

References

External links

Official site
(in

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture Prefecture-level divisions of Xinjiang Autonomous prefectures of the People's Republic of China Kyrgyz in China Turkic autonomous regions in China