Travel

Brief Intro To Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-08 13:26

Xinjiang, China's largest province-level unit of administration in terms of territory, stretches along the National Highway 312 from Urumqi and Turpan in the east to Horgas and Yili in the west, with stops in various major cities and same towns along the way, including Changji, Kuiton and Shihezi.

October 1, 1955, marked the dissolution of Xinjiang's provincial status, and thereafter, in line with the country's national regional autonomy policy, Xinjiang became the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A rough sketch of the region's rather complicated administrative divisions reveals that the prefecture-level cities of Urumqi and Karamay and the county-level city of Shihezi are under the direct administration of the regional government, with a further breakdown revealing eight prefectures, five autonomous prefectures, eight cities under the administration of prefectures, six autonomous counties, 54 counties and seven self-governed urban districts.

Related special coverage:  Charming Xinjiang

Location: Xinjiang lies in northwest China, bordering on Gansu and Qinghai provinces to the southeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south, sharing a 5,000-km border line with eight countries.

Area: 1,600,000 sq km

Climate: While Xinjiang enjoys between 2,500 to 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, the amount of annual precipitation for the entire region averages a mere 150 milliliters (ml), and thus the air is quite dry.

Provincial capital: Urumqi

Population: 19.33 millions (2003)

Xinjiang was home to 47 of China's 56 ethnic groups, including the Uygur (45.62 %), Han(39.87 %) and Kazak (6.99 %) ethnic groups, as well as the Mongolian, Khirghiz, Xibe, Tajik, Uzbek, Manchu, Daur, Tartar and Russian ethnic groups. The predominant languages in use today, however, include Chinese, Uygur, Kazak, Mongolian, Xibe and Kirghiz.