Niya (; ), 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 ...

in Minfeng County,

Hotan Prefecture Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (see also #Etymology, § Etymology) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to t ...

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. It is the county seat of Minfeng County, and therefore is commonly referred to as Minfeng, and is labeled so on less detailed maps. An ancient town also called Niya is located 115 km to the north of this modern Niya.

Name

The former name for the Niya region was ''Nina''. The word seems to be related to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word ''nimma'' (), meaning "pure water". During the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, the city was known as ''Jingjue.'' This word's

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

mean "pure" or "clean", implying a relation between the two names.

History

Niya/Minfeng was known in ancient time as Ronglu () during the Han dynasties (206 BC - 222 AD) and, according to the ''Hanshu'' Chapter 96A, was said to have had "240 households, 610 individuals with 300 persons able to bear arms" during the

Former Han Dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

(206 BC - 23 AD). It is situated about 115 km north of the modern town of Minfeng. Numerous Buddhist scriptures, sculptures, mummies and other precious archeological finds have been made in the region. The remains of more than seventy buildings have been discovered scattered over an area of some 45 km². It was located on the southern branch of the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. In the early 20th century,

Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...

carried out several expeditions in the area including exploration of the ancient

Niya ruins The Niya ruins (), is an archaeological site located about north of modern Niya Town on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in modern-day Xinjiang, China. The ancient site was known in its native language as Caḍ́ota, and in Chinese during t ...

. In 1991, a joint Sino-Japanese expedition dug up the ancient city and established that the original inhabitants of the city may have been members of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

's army, settling in the city during Alexander's conquests. In 2015, Lanpalu was added as a

residential community A residential community is a community, usually a small town or city, that is composed mostly of residents, as opposed to commercial businesses and/or industrial facilities, all three of which are considered to be the three main types o ...

. In 2017, Ankang, Xingfu, Tuanjie, Hexie, Guangming and Youyi were established as residential communities.

Geography

Niya is located on

China National Highway 315 Constructed in 1954, the Qinghai-Xinjiang Highway, also known as the China National Highway 315 (G315) runs west from Xining, Qinghai towards Kashgar, Xinjiang. It is in length. In 1994 the departments of communication and transportation in Qing ...

, which is the main Ruoqiang-

Hotan Hotan (also known by other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an administrative area in its own right i ...

road along the southern edge of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

. It is situated 120 km east of Keriya, and about 330 km west of

Qiemo Qiemo may refer to: * Qiemo County Qiemo County ( zh, c= ) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Qarqan County ( Uyghur: ; zh, c=恰尔羌县), is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonom ...

(

Cherchen The oasis town of Qiemo or Cherchen (, ; Uighur: Qarqan, also spelled Charchan) is the capital of Qiemo County, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It is on the Qiemo River and at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, on the ...

). Human habitation in the area is possible because of the Niya River, fed by the snows and glaciers of the

Kunlun 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 Kunlu ...

. Niya is a small town of about 10,000 people with a small market, shops, many restaurants, and a hotel.

Administrative divisions

As of 2018, the county includes ten residential communities and two

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 ...

: Residential communities (''

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...

-derived names''): * Bositanlu (), Maidiniyetilu (), Suodalu (), Lanpalu (), Ankang (), Xingfu (), Tuanjie (), Hexie (), Guangming (), Youyi () Villages: * Lanpa (), Fufuke () In 2009, the county included: Residential communities (''

-derived names''): * Bositanlu (), Maidiniyetilu (), Suodalu () Villages: * Lanpa (), Fufuke ()

Demographics

The population of Niya Town proper declined between the 2000 and 2010 Census.

Transportation

* Minfeng railway station serving the Hotan–Ruoqiang railway

References

External links

A brief description of the site of ancient Niya

{{Authority control Oases of China Hotan Prefecture Populated places along the Silk Road Populated places established in the 3rd century BC 3rd-century BC establishments in China County seats in Xinjiang