Bulungkol Township ( zh, s=布伦口乡; ) is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Akto County Akto County (also known as Aqtu, Aktu, or Aketao; zh, c=阿克陶县, p=Ākètáo Xiàn) is a county in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The county borders Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and has five ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, China., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Located in the middle west of the county, the township covers an area of 4,585 square kilometers with a population of 7,133 (as of 2017). It has 5 administrative villages under its jurisdiction. Its seat is at Bulungkol Village ().

Name

The name "Bulungkol" is from the

Kyrgyz language Kyrgyz 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 Xinjiang, China and in the Gorno-Badak ...

, meaning "lake in the corner" (). It was named after Lake Bulungkol () in its territory.

History

In 1955, Bulungkol was transferred to Akto County from Tashkurgan County. In 1959, Bulungkol Commune () was established. In 1967, Bulungkol Commune was renamed Fanxiu Commune (' anti-revisionism commune' ). In 1984, Fanxiu Commune became Bulungkol Township.

Geography

The township of Bulungkol is located on the Pamir Plateau, in the southwest of

, between east longitude 74°36′- 75°37′ and north latitude 38°10′- 38°58′. It is bordered by

Barin Township Barin Township (), also spelled Baren Township (Sourced to the ''Xinjiang Public Security Gazette'' (), pp 790–795) ( zh, s=巴仁乡), is a township of Akto County (Aketao), Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture (Kezilesu), Xinjiang Uygur Autono ...

and Kirzilto Township to the east, by the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Oytak to the north, by Muji Township to the west, and by Tashkurgan County and the

Republic of Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China t ...

to the south. The township has an border with neighboring Tajikistan, with 8

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

es connecting the two. The seat of Bulungkol Township is away from the Akto County seat. The area of grassland is , and the area of grazed grassland is . Bulungkol comprises a number of mountains and valleys, with most of its elevation ranging from to above sea level. The township's highest point,

Kongur Tiube Kongur Tagh, which means "a brown mountain" in Uyghur language, has a significant subpeak known as Kongur Tiube ( 公格尔九别峰 which means in the local language "the mountain with a white cap", also Kongur Tiubie / Jiubie and Kungur Tjube Ta ...

, is above sea level. The mountains of Kongur Tagh and

Muztagh Ata Muztagh Ata (meaning 'Ice Mountain Father' in English), formerly known as Mount Tagharma and Wi-tagh, is the second highest of the mountains which form the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, with an elevation of . It is sometimes regarded a ...

are cascaded, the gullies are horizontal and vertical, and the peaks are covered with snow all year round. There are large areas of

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s, with the and the Kangxiwar River () originating from these glaciers. Bulungkol Township's landscape also includes a number of lakes and springs.

Flora and fauna

The township is home to rare wild animals, such as the

snowcock The snowcocks or snowfowl are a group of bird species in the genus ''Tetraogallus'' of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are ground-nesting birds that breed in the mountain ranges of southern Eurasia from the Caucasus to the Himalayas and we ...

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

, procapra przewalskii and

argali The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild ovis, sheep native to the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian language, Mongolian ...

. There is also rare vegetation such as sand holly and

snow lotus ''Saussurea'' is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of East Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine habita ...

Geology

The mineral resources mainly include metal mines such as

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, and non-metallic minerals such as

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage y ...

Climate

Bulungkol Township has an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

with an average annual temperature of . The township's average temperature in January is , and its an average temperature in July is . Bulungkol Township typically experiences an annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

of between and , and a frost-free period of 90 to 100 days. File:Kongur south.jpg, South face of Kongur Tagh File:Kongur Shan.jpg, Kongur Tagh File:公格尔雪峰 - panoramio.jpg, Kongur Tagh File:Karakul-kongur-d11.jpg, Karakul Lake File:7,719m Kongur Tagh Gez Valley Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路盖孜河谷公格尔峰 - panoramio.jpg, Gez Valley File:7,719m Kongur Tagh Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路公格尔峰 - panoramio (1).jpg,

gobi The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

and

s File:Lake Bulungkol Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路白沙湖 - panoramio (1).jpg, Bulungkol Lake File:Lake Bulungkol Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路白沙湖 - panoramio (3).jpg, Bulungkol Lake File:NJ-43-6 Murgab, Soviet Union; China.jpg, Map of the region including Bulungkol (

DMA DMA may refer to: Arts * ''DMA'' (magazine), a defunct dance music magazine * Dallas Museum of Art, in Texas, US * BT Digital Music Awards, an annual event in the UK * Danish Music Awards * Detroit Music Awards * Doctor of musical arts, a degree ...

, 1988)

Administrative divisions

Bulungkol Township governs the following five

administrative village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

s (): * Bulungkol (Bulunkoucun) (, , ) * Gez (Gaizicun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Chaqir'eghil (Qiake’er’aigelecun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Subash (, , ) ** location of

Kongur Tagh The Kongur Tagh (meaning 'Brown Mountain' in English) is the highest peak in the Pamir Mountains, and also the highest mountain wholly within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. With an elevation of , it is also the highest mountain out ...

( 公格尔九别峰, , ) * Toqay (, , ) These administrative villages also include a number of natural villages (), which do not serve as

administrative divisions Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

, such as the village of Qarjayit ().

Demographics

, the population of Bulungkol Township was 99.9% Kyrgyz.

Economy

Animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

is the main component of Bulungkol's economy, producing ''Subashi'' Large-tailed Sheep (). Mineral resources include iron, copper,

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a commercially important source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), or alternatively yellow ...

beryl Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium Silicate minerals#Cyclosilicates, silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and Aquamarine (gem), aquamarine. Naturally occurring Hex ...

and others.

Transportation

China National Highway 314 China National Highway 314 (G314) (sometimes referred to as Gansu Provincial Highway 314) runs southwest from Urumqi, Xinjiang towards the Khunjerab Pass, which is on the northern border of the Gilgit–Baltistan territory in Pakistan-administe ...

, part of the

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway (, ), also known as the KKH, National Highway 35 (), N-35, and the ChinaPakistan Friendship Highway, is a National Highways of Pakistan, national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab p ...

Tourism

The main tourist attractions are Karakul Lake, a designated national tourist attraction, and Baisha Mountain ().

References

{{Authority control Township-level divisions of Akto County