Kizilto (قىزىلتو يېزىسى, Keziletao zh, s=克孜勒陶乡, p=Kèzīlètáo Xiāng) is a

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 ...

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 Uygur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously 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 of the country at the crossroads ...

, China. Located in the southeastern part of the county, the town covers an area of 3,882 square kilometers with a population of 9,700 (as of 2015). It has 12 administrative villages under its jurisdiction. Its seat is at ''Ordolung'ozu Village'' (, , ).

Name

The name of Kizilto is from

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 "red mountains" (). This place is named after the red mountain stone on the south side of the Yigzya River (). 'Kizil' ('kezile') means 'red' and 'to' ('tao') means 'mountain'. Other nearby places with the word 'kizil' (red) in their names include

Kizilsu Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in western Xinjiang, China, bordering Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Its capital is Artush. The prefecture is home to 622,222 people () and covers an area of . Most Kyrgyz in China r ...

Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...

, and

Kiziloy Kiziloy Township (قىزىلئۆي يېزىسى / Heiziwei, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency zh, s=, p=Hēizīwěi Xiāng) is the former county seat before 1989 and a township of Wuqia County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Re ...

History

In 1966, Kizilto Commune () was established. In 1967 during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Kizilto Commune was renamed Hongxing Commune ('

Red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

commune' ). In 1984, the commune became Kizilto Township. In 2020, on December 30, the status of Kizilto Township was upgraded to the status of a town.

Geography and resources

Kizilto Town is located to the south of county seat Akto Town and on the eastern slope of

Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kun ...

, and between 75°02′- 76°41′ east longitude and 38°06′- 38°56′ north latitude. The town is bordered by Kizil Township of

Yengisar County Yengisar County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly transliterated as Yangi Hissar, from , United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency), also known as Yingjisha County, United States National Geospatial- ...

(Yingjisha) to the east, by Akdala Ranch and Qarlung Township to the south, by Bulungkol Township to the west, Wuqia Township of Yengisar County to the north. Its maximum distance between east and west is 105 kilometers, and the maximum distance between north and south 75 kilometers. The seat of the town is 98 kilometers away from the county seat of Akto Town. It has a total area of 3,882 square kilometers, including 318.7 hectares of

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

, 86.8 hectares of forest land and 143,000 hectares of

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

. The average

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of the town is 2,200 meters. The northwest is a cold mountain climate with 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 150–200 mm. The southeast is a shallow mountain area, it is a temperate continental arid climate with an average annual temperature of 10.9 °C and a frost-free period of 150 days. The main

water system A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following: # A drainage basin (see water purification – sourc ...

in the territory is the Yigzya River (). There are precious animals such as snow chicken, yellow sheep 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 ...

, and there are rare plants such as wild snow lotus,

codonopsis ''Codonopsis'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae. As currently recognized, ''Codonopsis'' includes two other groups sometimes separated as distinct genera, i.e. ''Campanumoea'' and ''Leptocodon.'' The enlarged genus ''Codo ...

angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 90 species of tall Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous, herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as ...

gymnadenia conopsea ''Gymnadenia conopsea'', commonly known as the fragrant orchid or chalk fragrant orchid, is a herbaceous plant of the family Orchidaceae native to northern Europe. Etymology The name of the genus ''Gymnadenia'' is formed from Greek words (', ...

cynomorium ''Cynomorium'' is a genus of parasitic perennial flowering plants in the family Cynomoriaceae. The genus consists of only one species, ''Cynomorium coccineum'' (although one of its subspecies is sometimes treated as a separate species). Its plac ...

daphnia ''Daphnia'' is a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, in length. ''Daphnia'' are members of the Order (biology), order Anomopoda, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their Saltation (gait), ...

comfrey ''Symphytum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common name comfrey (pronounced , from the Latin confervere to 'heal' or literally to 'boil together', referring to uses in ancient traditional medicin ...

and

cistanche ''Cistanche'' is a worldwide genus of Parasitic plant, holoparasitic desert plants in the family Orobanchaceae. They lack chlorophyll and obtain nutrients and water from the host plants whose roots they parasitize. They are often known as desert ...

. Mineral resources include

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

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 ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

Administrative divisions

The town of Kizilto has 12

villages 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 ...

under its jurisdiction. ;12

: * Arpiliq Village (A'erpalekecun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Chimgen Village (Qimugancun;, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Ghijek Village (Aijiekecun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Ordolung'ozu Village (Wu'erdulongwozicun) (, , ) * Qapqa Village (Kapukacun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Qaratash Village (Kalatashicun) (, , ) * Qaratash Chimgen Village (Kalatashiqimugancun) , United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Qarawul Village (Ka'erwulecun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** * Tam Village (Tamucun) (, , ) * Tamboz Village (, , ) * Tarkechik (Hongxin) Village (, , ) * Toyunduq Village (Tuoyundukecun), United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (, , ) ** ;

Unincorporated village An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

s * Qat ()

Demographics

, the population of Kizilto was 99.16% Kyrgyz.

Economy

The economy of the town is mainly

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 ...

, and there are more high-quality summer grasses on shallow hillsides and river valleys. It mainly grows

food crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species ar ...

s such as

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

and

highland barley Highland barley, Tibetan barley or Himalayan barley ( Tibetan: ནས་; Wylie: nas; Chinese: ; qīngkē, or 藏青稞; zàng qīngkē) is the principal cereal cultivated on the Tibetan Plateau, used mainly to make tsampa and liquor ( chang). ...

References

{{Authority control Township-level divisions of Akto County