Tacheng

Tacheng^[1] (Chinese: 塔城), also known as Qoqek (Uyghur: چۆچەك; kk-arab: شاۋەشەك)^[2] and historically as Chuguchak,^[3] is a county-level city and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. The Chinese name "Tacheng" is an abbreviation of "Tarbagatay City" (塔尔巴哈台城), a reference to the Tarbagatay Mountains. Tacheng is located in the Dzungarian Basin, some 10 km (6.2 mi) from the Chinese border with Kazakhstan. For a long time it has been a major center for trade with Central Asia because it is an agricultural hub. Its industries include food processing, textiles, and utilities.

History

In the mid-19th century, Chuguchak was considered the most important commercial center of Western China after Ghulja (Yining), being an important center of trade between China and Russia, in particular in tea. The city, surrounded by an earth wall, was the residence of two Qing ambans and had a garrison of some 1,000 Chinese soldiers and 1,500 Manchu and Mongol soldiers.^[3]

Chuguchak suffered harshly in 1865 during the fighting between the Qing forces and the Dungan and Hui rebels.

Tacheng is the site of an internment camp for Turkic Muslims such as the Uyghurs and Kazakhs; it is one of many such camps in Xinjiang. The Chinese government maintains that they are "vocational education centers" for citizens to learn trade skills and the Chinese language, and that the camp was shut down in 2019. However, satellite imagery shows that the camp expanded five-fold later that year.^[4][5]

Border crossing

The Baktu border crossing (traditional Chinese: 巴克圖口岸; simplified Chinese: 巴克图口岸; pinyin: Bākètú Kǒu'àn) into Kazakhstan is located 17 km (11 mi) from Tacheng. The checkpoint on the Kazakh side of the border is also known as Bakhty and is located 60 km (37 mi) from Makanchi in East Kazakhstan Province. In April 1962, during the Yi–Ta incident, over 60,000 Chinese citizens, including around 48,000 Tacheng residents, crossed the Xinjiang–Kazakh SSR border, leading to massive economic loss in Tacheng; the border crossing closed in August of that year.^[6] The crossing re-opened on 20 October 1990, and was deemed a "first-class port of entry" (一类口岸) on 14 March 1994. On 1 July 1995, the crossing opened to use by third nations.^[6]

Administrative divisions

Tacheng is divided into 3 subdistricts, 2 towns, 3 townships, and 1 ethnic township,

• Others
  • Bozdaq Farm (博孜达克农场, بوزداق دېھقانچىلىق مەيدانى, بوزداق اۋىل شارۋاشىلىعى الاڭىنداعى)
  • Tacheng Prefectural Pasture (塔城地区种牛场, تارباغاتاي ۋىلايەتلىك چارۋىچىلىق مەيدانى, تارباعاتاي ايماقتىق مال شارۋاشىلىعى الاڭىنداعى)
  • Woyijiayilao Pasture (窝依加依劳牧场, ئويجايلاۋ چارۋىچىلىق مەيدانى, ۋيجايلاۋ مال شارۋاشىلىعى الاڭىنداعى)
  • XPCC 164th Regiment (兵团一六四团, 164-تۇەن مەيدانى, 164-تۋان الاڭىنداعى)

Climate

Tacheng has a typical Xinjiang cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) that is almost moist enough to be a hot summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), as being on the west side of the Altay Mountains the region receives more winter snowfall than most of Xinjiang.

Transportation

The Karamay–Tacheng Railway (opened on May 30, 2019) connects Tacheng with Baikouquan Station (百口泉站) on the Kuytun–Beitun Railway in Karamay City. It takes 9 hours from Tacheng to Ürümqi.^[7]

Tacheng is also served by the Tacheng Qianquan Airport with flights to Ürümqi and other cities in Xinjiang.

Notable people

• Li Jingliang (born 1988), Chinese mixed martial artist, currently competes in the welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
• Zhang Yangyang (born 1991), Chinese pop singer.

Notes

1. ^ Locals in Xinjiang frequently observe UTC+6 (Xinjiang Time), 2 hours behind Beijing.

References

Citations

1. ^ The official spelling according to zh:中国地名录. Beijing: SinoMaps Press (中国地图出版社). 1997. ISBN 7-5031-1718-4.
2. ^ Kraus, Charles (June 2019). "Laying Blame for Flight and Fight: Sino-Soviet Relations and the 'Yi–Ta' Incident in Xinjiang, 1962". The China Quarterly. 238: 504. doi:10.1017/S0305741018001789. ISSN 0305-7410
3. ^ Lumley, John (1869), "Report by Mr. Lumley, Her Majesty's Secretary of Embassy at St. Petersburgh, on the Tea Trade of Russia, dated May 4, 1867. [Extracted from "Commercial reports" presented to Parliament, July 1867.]", p. 73
4. ^ "Inside Xinjiang's Prison State". The New Yorker. 26 February 2021.
5. ^ Megha Rajagopalan; Alison Killing; Christo Buschek (27 August 2020). "China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims". BuzzFeed News
6. ^ "zh:百年口岸——巴克图-塔城市政府门户网" (in zh-cn). Tacheng People's Government. 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
7. ^ "zh:穿越"魔鬼风区"的克塔铁路通车 新疆实现所有地州首府通火车". Xinhua. 2019-05-30. Archived May 30, 2019 at the Wayback Machine.

Sources

• Khālidī, Qurbanʻali, Allen J. Frank, and Mirkasym Abdulakhatovich Usmanov. An Islamic Biographical Dictionary of the Eastern Kazakh Steppe, 1770-1912. Brill's Inner Asian library, v. 12. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
• Light, Nathan. "Qazaqs in the People's Republic of China: The Local Processes of History". Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana Center on Global Change and World Peace, Occasional Paper No. 22, June 1994. ISBN 1-881157-24-5.
• Light, Nathan. "Kazakhs of the Tarbaghatai: Ethno-History Through a Novel". The Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, 17/2 (1993): 91–102.
• Saguchi Toru. "Kazak Pastoralists on the Tarbaghatai Frontier under the Ch'ing." In: Proceedings of the International Conference on China Border Area Studies. Lin En-hsien [Lin Enxian], ed. Taipei: National Chengchi University, 1985, pp. 953–996.
• Wiens, Herold J. "Change in the Ethnography and Land Use of the Ili Valley and Region, Chinese Turkestan". Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 59, No. 4. (Dec., 1969), pp. 753–775.

External links

• Map of the City of Tacheng Archived 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
• Webpage on the Bakktu border crossing in Xinjiang's Land Ports and Border Trade website