Khorgos (from ; zh, s=霍尔果斯), officially known as KorgasThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, ''

SinoMaps Press SinoMaps Press (), previously known as China Cartographic Publishing House, is a publisher in Beijing, China, specializing in professional map publishing. Established in December 1954, it is the only national-level map publisher in China today. ...

'' 1997); ( Kazakh: ; ), is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in northern Xinjiang, China. Its capital is Yining, also known as Ghulja or Kulja. Covering an area of 268,591 square kilometres (16.18 per cent of Xinjiang), Ili Prefecture shares ...

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. It straddles the country's border with

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

; on the Kazakh side of the border is a city also named Horgos in Russian and Korgas in Kazakh. Khorgos area is a hub of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, 200 km from the Alataw Pass, the historically important

Dzungarian Gate The Dzungarian Gate, also known as the Altai Gap, is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between Central Asia and China. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from China t ...

, with a cross-border visa-free

special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

for trade and shopping (ICBC), a dry port for transporting goods and two new cities, one on either side of the border.

History

In 1851, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

signed an agreement with

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

to have Khorgos and

Tacheng TachengThe official spelling according to (), also known as Tarbagatay, Chuguchak or Qoqek, is a county-level city and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. The Chinese name "Tach ...

opened as port of entries along the Qing-Russian border. In 1977, the 61st Regiment Farm fire in Khorgos killed 694 and injured 161. It is one of the worst human-made disasters in China by death toll.

Transportation

The Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway was completed in late 2009 and as of 2012 provides train service from

Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...

and

Yining YiningThe official spelling according to ( zh, s=伊宁), also known as Ghulja () or Kulja (Kazakh language, Kazakh: ), is a county-level city in northwestern Xinjiang, China. It is the administrative seat and largest city of Ili Kazakh Auton ...

to Khorgos. Passenger trains from Ürümqi started on July 1, 2010; however, they initially only ran to Yining and not all the way to Khorgos. In December 2013, one of the daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgos. The travel time from Khorgos to Yining then was just over an hour. In December 2011, a railway from the Khorgos border crossing to Zhetygen terminal (near

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

) was completed; on December 2, 2012, the tracks from the Chinese and Kazakhstan sides of the borders were connected.写在中国霍尔果斯至哈萨克斯坦阿腾科里铁路通车运营之际
2012-12-23 For some months, the railway on the Kazakh side was still operating in a test mode. The railway border crossing (

port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border control, border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not impo ...

) at Khorgos became operational in the late 2012;新疆霍尔果斯火车站获批成立年底有望通车
, 中国新闻网, 2012-11-23 the first regular trains from the two countries crossed the border on December 22, 2012. Thus, Khorgos, an international dry port, connects land-locked Kazakhstan to the sea port of

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

in China. The railway border crossing is expected to handle up to 15 million tons of freight per year initially, the volume rising to 30 million tons per year in the long run, opening up the second Europe-China rail link via Kazakhstan.Revival of the Silk Road
/ref> Khorgos is a major

break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and railroad car, rolling stock g ...

interchange. 41-ton gantry cranes are used to move shipping containers between

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

Chinese trains and

Russian gauge Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Kazakh trains, connecting to Altynkol railway station on a spur line of

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Qazaqstan Temır Joly ( ) is the national railway company of Kazakhstan. Organization Founded by the government in 2002 as a joint stock company, KTZ’s task is to develop, operate, and maintain railway transportation in Kazakhstan. It is head ...

. In June 2017, the Ürümqi Railway Bureau of the

China Railway China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...

started daily passenger service from

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

via Khorgos.

Economy

As of at least 2024, Khorgos is the second-largest

dry port A dry port (sometimes referred to as an inland port) is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport, operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. In addition to their role i ...

in the world. In 2017, Boshihao Electronics, a robot manufacturing company, moved production from

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

to Khorgos.

Climate

Administrative divisions

Khorgos is divided into 4

subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...

, 1 ethnic township, and 2 township-equivalent regions. Others: * 61st Regiment Farm (六十一团) * 62nd Regiment Farm (六十二团)

Gallery

Notes

References

{{authority control China–Kazakhstan border crossings County-level divisions of Xinjiang Dry ports Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Populated places in Xinjiang