Aksu is a city in and the seat of Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, lying at the northern edge of the Tarim Basin. The name Aksu literally means "white water" (in Turkic) and is used for both the oasis town and the Aksu River.
The economy of Aksu is mostly agricultural, with cotton, in particular long-staple cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), as the main product. Also produced are grain, fruits, oils and beets. The industry mostly consists of weaving, cement and chemical industries.
The land currently under the administration of the Aksu City is divided in two parts, separated by the Aral City. The northern part hosts the city center, while the southern part is occupied by the Taklamakan Desert.
Aksu airport is considered a military airport in China (although also available for civil usage). Only aircraft registered in China can land in Aksu. This means if you are flying to Aksu from international origins you have to land in a major airport in China like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and change to China registered aircraft which tail number starts with B. [3]
From the Former Han dynasty (125 BCE to 23 CE) at least until the early Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), Aksu was known as Gumo姑墨 [Ku-mo].[6][7] The ancient capital town of Nan ("Southern Town") was likely well south of the present town.
During the Han dynasty, Gumo is described as a "kingdom" (guo) containing 3,500 households and 24,500 individuals, including 4,500 people able to bear arms. It is said to have produced copper, iron and orpiment.[8] The territory of Gumo was roughly situated in the counties of Baicheng and Wensu and the city of Aksu of nowadays.[9]
Baluka
During the Buddhist era, it was known as Bharuka,[10]Bohuan and Baluka,[11]Bolujia (in pinyin), Po-lu-chia (in Wade–Giles).
The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited this "kingdom" in 629 CE and referred to it as Baluka.[12] He recorded that there were tens of Sarvastivadinvihāras in the kingdom and over 1000 Buddhist monks. He said the kingdom was 600 li from east to west, and 300 li from north to south. Its capital was said to be six li in circumference. Xuanzang reported that the "native products, climate, temperament of the people, customs, written language and law are the same as in the country of Kuci or modern Kucha", some 300 km or 190 mi to the east, "but the spoken language is somewhat different" from the Kuchean language, which is also known as Tocharian B and West Tocharian. He also stated that fine cotton and hemp cloth made in the area was traded in neighbouring countries.[13]
Contested period
In the 7th, 8th, and early 9th centuries, control of the entire region was often contested by Tang China, the Tibetan Empire, and the Uyghur Khaganate; cities frequently changed hands. Tibet seized Aksu in 670, but Tang forces reconquered the region in 692.
The Tang general Tang Jiahui led the Chinese to defeat an Arab-Tibetan attack in the Battle of Aksu (717).[14] The attack on Aksu was joined by Türgesh Khan Suluk.[15][16] Both Uch Turfan and Aksu were attacked by the Turgesh, Arab, and Tibetan force on 15 August 717. Qarluqs serving under Chinese command, under Arsila Xian, a Western Turkic Qaghan serving under the Chinese Assistant Grand Protector General Tang Jiahui defeated the attack. Al-Yashkuri, the Arab commander and his army fled to Tashkent after they were defeated.[17][18]
Tibet regained the Tarim Basin in the late 720s, and the Tang dynasty again annexed the region in the 740s. The Battle of Talas led to the gradual withdrawal of Chinese forces, and the region was then contested between the Uyghurs and Tibetans.
Aksu was positioned on a junction of trade routes: the northern Tarim route Silk Road, and the dangerous route north via the Tian Shan's Muzart Pass to the fertile Ili Valley.[19]
Mongol era
Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Uyghur commoners from Wushi, Kucha and Aksu.[20]
In 1207–1208, Aksu submitted to Genghis Khan who founded the Mongol Empire. The area had been part of the whole Mongol Empire before it was occupied by the independent-minded Chagatai Khanate under the House of Ögedei in 1286 from the hands of Kublai's Yuan dynasty. After the decline of the Yuan dynasty and the split of the Chagatai Khanate in the mid-14th century, Aksu became a territory of the khanate of Moghulistan. Later Aksu fell under the power of Turkic and Mongol warlords. Like most of Xinjiang, Aksu fell under the control of the Khojas and the Dzungar Khanate. Along with Kashgar, Asku played an important role in East-West exchange.[21]
Qing era
The Qing dynasty of China conquered the Dzungar Khanate during the final stage of the Dzungar–Qing Wars in the late 1750s. By 1760, the whole Xinjiang including Aksu became the territory of the Qing dynasty. The Aksu region was given immediate legitimacy by the Qing government, which also gave it the name Wensu Independent Department (溫宿直隸州) and appointed an imperial agent to supervise its activity.[21]
Aksu was seized by Yaqub Beg during the Dungan Revolt of 1864–1877. Yakub Beg seized Aksu from Chinese Muslim forces.[22] After the reconquest of Xinjiang, the Qing dynasty formed Aksu Prefecture as part of the new Xinjiang Province in 1884.[21] After the fall of Yakub Beg, a learned cleric named Musa Sayrami (1836–1917), who had occupied positions of importance in Aksu under both rebel regimes, authored Tārīkh-i amniyya (History of Peace), which is considered by modern historians as one of the most important historical sources on the period.[23]
British Army officer Francis Younghusband visited Aksu in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to British India. He described it as being the largest town he had seen on his way from the Chinese capital, with a population of about 20,000, besides other inhabitants of the district and a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers. "There were large bazaars and several inns—some for travellers, others for merchants wishing to make a prolonged stay to sell goods."[24]
Modern era
After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Aksu County (阿克蘇縣) was established by the Republic of China In 1913.[4]
Aksu (阿克蘇) delegates in Beijing, China, in 1761. 万国来朝图
Aksu City is divided into two non-contiguous areas. The northern area is inhabited and the southern area is in the Taklamakan Desert. The southern area ends at a strait line in the desert along the 39°28′57″N parallel that divides it from Lop County (Luopu) and Qira County (Cele) in Hotan Prefecture (Hetian).[28][29]
Neighbours
The kingdom bordered Kashgar to the south-west, and Kucha, Karasahr then Turpan to the east. Across the desert to the south was Khotan.
Climate
Aksu has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classificationBWk) with extreme seasonal variation in temperature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) in January to 24.1 °C (75.4 °F), and the annual mean is 10.8 °C (51.4 °F). Precipitation totals only 80.6 mm (3.17 in) annually, and mostly falls in summer, as compared to an annual evaporation rate of about 1,200 to 1,500 mm (47 to 59 in); there are about 2,800–3,000 hours of bright sunshine annually. The frost-free period averages 200–220 days.
Climate data for Aksu (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Industries in the city include textiles, construction, chemicals and others. Agricultural products include rice, wheat, corn and cotton. The local speciality is thin-shelled walnuts.[4]
Although the Tarim Basin is largely dominated by the Uyghurs, there are many Han Chinese in Aksu due to the presence of bingtuan state farms here.[45] The Chinese government had encouraged migration to Xinjiang from the late 1950s and early 1960s onwards, and by 1998, Han Chinese formed the majority in the urban area of Aksu. The population in 2015, 44.67% of the population was Han Chinese.[46]
As of 2015, 278,210 (54.16%) of the 513,682 residents of the city were Uyghur, 226,781 (44.14%) were Han Chinese and 8,691 were from other ethnic groups.[47]
In the 2010 census figure, the population in the city of Aksu dropped slightly to 535,657.[48] The difference may be partly due to boundary changes.[49]
In the 2000 census, a figure of 561,822 was recorded for the city's population.
As of 1999, 57.89% of the population of Aksu City was Han Chinese and 40.75% of the population was Uyghur.[50]
^ ab阿克苏市概况. ئاقسۇ阿克苏市人民政府 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 18 May 2020. 阿克苏市，维吾尔语意为"白水城"，{...}市辖4乡2镇、5个街道和8个片区管委会，
^Hill (2009), p. 408, n. 20.13. "In Buddhist Sanskrit, it was known as Bharuka."
^Bailey, H. W. (1985): Indo-Scythian Studies being Khotanese Texts Volume VII. Cambridge University Press. 1985.
^Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty, p. 162. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
^Bernard Samuel Myers (1959). Encyclopedia of World Art. McGraw-Hill. p. 445. The city bearing the Turkish name of Aksu was perhaps earlier called Bharuka and may overlie the ancient site, of which nothing has yet been found.
^Li, Rongxi. Translator. 1996. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California.
^ abcde阿克苏市历史沿革 [Aksu City Historical Development] (in Simplified Chinese). XZQH.org. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
^阿克苏市概况. ئاقسۇ阿克苏市人民政府 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 20 May 2020. 阿克苏市位于东经79°43′26″～82°00′38″，北纬39°28′57″～41°30′10″，
^政府概况. 洛浦县政府网 Luopu County Government Network (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 18 December 2019. 地处东经79°59′-81°83′，北纬36°30′-39°29′东邻策勒县，{...}北伸延入塔克拉玛干大沙漠与阿克苏市、阿瓦提县为邻，
^Shohret Hoshur; Joshua Lipes (23 August 2010). "More Arrests in Aksu Blast". Radio Free Asia. Translated by Shohret Tursun, Luisetta Mudie. Retrieved 20 May 2020. According to a staff member from the Topluq police station, officers have been searching all area hospitals, walk-in clinics, and public spaces in the vicinity of the village.
^Stanley W. Toops (15 March 2004). "The Demography of Xinjiang". In S. Frederick Starr (ed.). Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland. Routledge. p. 254. ISBN978-0765613189.
^Stanley W. Toops (15 March 2004). "The Demography of Xinjiang". In S. Frederick Starr (ed.). Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland. Routledge. pp. 256–257. ISBN978-0765613189.
^3-7 各地、州、市、县(市)分民族人口数 (in Simplified Chinese). شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى新疆维吾尔自治区统计局 Statistic Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 15 March 2017. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
Aksu City Historical Annals Editing Committee 阿克苏市史志编纂委员会 ed. (1991) Aksu City Annals. 阿克苏市志. Xinhua. ISBN7-5011-1531-1
Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN978-1-4392-2134-1.
Puri, B. N. Buddhism in Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1987. (2000 reprint).
Stein, Aurel M. 1907. Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan, 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford. [1]
Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980. [2]
Yu, Taishan. 2004. A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania.
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![Map of Aksu (labeled as A-K'O-SU (AK SU YANGI SHAHR)) and surrounding region from the International Map of the World (AMS, 1950)[b]](/en/File:A-k%60o-su_NK-44_(1950)_-_panoramio.jpg)
![From the Operational Navigation Chart; map including Aksu (A-k'o-su) (DMA, 1985)[c]](/en/File:Operational_Navigation_Chart_F-6,_6th_edition.jpg)
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