Aksu Prefecture[The official spelling according to ]
Etymology
The name
Aksu comes from the name of the Aksu River which is Turkic for 'white water'.
The name is similar to that of the nearby
Jetisu region which means 'seven rivers'.
The name of Aksu Prefecture's
Onsu County (Wensu) means 'ten water' in Uyghur and other Turkic languages, and
Kizilsu in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture means 'red water'—all of these names consist of a descriptor followed by
su (; ).
History
In 717 AD, the Arabs, guided by their Turgesh allies, besieged Buat-ɦuɑn (撥換, roughly modern
Aksu City) and Dai-dʑiᴇk-dʑiᴇŋ (大石城, roughly modern
Uqturpan County) in the Battle of Aksu. On August 15, the Arabs,
Tibetan Empire, and Suluk Khan of the Türgesh Khaganate formed an alliance to besiege the city of Dai-dʑiᴇk-dʑiᴇŋ (now
Usi County). The
Tang dynasty army, commanded by Tang Jiahui (汤嘉惠), allied with
Karluks and
Ashina Xian of Western Turkestan to alleviate the siege.
The Arab army faced a counterattack and withdrew to
Tashkent, where numerous Arab soldiers were captured but later released upon the payment of a ransom by the Umayyad caliphs.
Subsequent to the conflict, the Arabs were displaced from the northern section of the Hezhong region. The Turks re-engaged with the Tang and then launched an assault on the Arabs in
Fergana.
Following 720, the Tubo forces advanced northward into the Tarim Basin, while the Tang army re-entered Anxi in the 740s. The Battle of Talas in 751 inflicted severe losses on the Tang army, resulting in the original four towns of Anxi falling under the influence of the Tibetan Empire and Qocho.
Geography
The prefecture occupies the northwestern part of the
Tarim Basin and the southern slopes of the
Tian Shan. The southern part of the prefecture is within the Taklamakan desert. Agriculture is only possible in the areas irrigated by the
Tarim River and its glacier-fed tributaries, the Aksu River and the
Muzart River. Aksu Prefecture surrounds Aral, Xinjiang.
Administrative divisions
Aksu Prefecture is divided into 2 county-level cities and 8 counties:
| |
|
| 1 | Aksu City | ئاقسۇ شەھىرى | | | | 715,319 | 14,415 | 49.62 |
| 2 | Kuqa (Kuchar, Kucha, Kuche) | كۇچار شەھىرى | | | | 530,328 | 14,525 | 36.51 |
| 3 | Onsu County (Wenu | ئونسۇ ناھىيىسى | | | | 266,002 | 14,335 | 18.56 |
| 4 | Xayar County (Shayar, Shaya) | شايار ناھىيىسى | | | | 278,516 | 31,848 | 8.75 |
| 5 | Xinhe County | توقسۇ ناھىيىسى | | | | 194,473 | 5,820 | 33.41 |
| 6 | Baicheng County | باي ناھىيىسى | | | | 231,113 | 15,891 | 14.54 |
| 7 | Uqturpan County (Wushi | ئۇچتۇرپان ناھىيىسى | | | | 205,571 | 9,051 | 22.71 |
| 8 | Awat County | ئاۋات ناھىيىسى | | | | 242,481 | 13,018 | 18.63 |
| 9 | Kalpin County (Kelpin) | كەلپىن ناھىيىسى | | | | 50,619 | 8,912 | 5.68 |
Demographics
, 2,051,412 (80.1%) of the 2,561,674 residents of the county were
Uyghurs, 475,323 (18.6%) were
Han Chinese and 34,939 were from other ethnic groups.
As of 1999, 75.0% of the population of Aksu (Aqsu, Akesu) Prefecture was Uyghur and 23.7% of the population was Han Chinese.
External links
