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84-479: These Chinese accounts describe the "Dayuan" as urbanized dwellers with European phenotypes, living in walled cities and having "customs identical to those of the Daxia " or Greco-Bactrians , a Hellenistic kingdom that was ruling Bactria at that time in today's northern Afghanistan . The Dayuan are also described as manufacturers and great lovers of wine. The Dayuan were the descendants of Greeks forcibly resettled in

168-933: A Saka name rendered in Greek as Mauakes or Maues. Another Scythian ruler by the name of Maues was later a ruler of the Indo-Scythian kingdom in northern India, during the 1st century BCE. According to the Han Chronicles In 132BCE the Yuezhi were driven out of the Ili River valley by the Wusun . They fled south from the Ili river area, by-passed the urban civilization of the Dayuan in Ferghana , and re-settled north of

252-576: A few Mongols, with the Uyghurs estimated to comprise a quarter of the population. In the People's Republic era, an active program to resettle Han population in Xinjiang was initiated. In 1960, there were 76,496 Uyghurs and 477,321 Han Chinese in Ürümqi. According to the 2000 census, Ürümqi had 2,081,834 inhabitants, with a population density of 174.53 inhabitants/km (452.3 inhabitants/sq. mi.). In

336-594: A fraction of a cent. Women are held in great respect, and the men make decisions on the advice of their women. They were great manufacturers and lovers of wine : Round about Dayuan they make wine from grapes. Wealthy people store up as much as 10,000 stones and over in their cellars, and keep it for several tens of years without spoiling. The people are fond of wine. According to the Shiji, grapes and alfalfa were introduced to China from Dayuan following Zhang Qian's embassy: The regions around Dayuan make wine out of grapes,

420-426: A leading base for steel, machinery manufacturing, biochemistry and other industrial innovations. Ürümqi has many educational campuses including Xinjiang University , Xinjiang Normal University , Xinjiang Agricultural University , Xinjiang Medical University and many others. Ürümqi is served by the Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport . It is a hub for China Southern Airlines . Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport

504-702: A transliteration of Sanskrit Yavana or Pali Yona , used in Asia to designate Greeks (" Ionians "), so Dayuan meant "Great Ionians". By 100 BC, the Dayuan were attacked and then defeated by the Han dynasty in the Han-Dayuan war . The interaction between the Dayuan and the Chinese is historically crucial, since it represents one of the first major contacts between an urbanized civilization in Central Asia and

588-942: Is 7.8 °C (46.0 °F). Although the cityʼs summers are slightly wetter than its winters, sunny weather is much more likely in the hotter months, and relative humidity is the lowest during summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 33 percent in December to 75 percent in September, the city receives 2,643 hours of bright sunshine annually. Its annual precipitation is about 365 millimetres (14.4 in). Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −41.5 °C (−42.7 °F) on 27 February 1951 to 42.1 °C (107.8 °F) on 1 August 1973. Blacksmith Institute mentioned Ürümqi in 2007 World's Worst Polluted Places caused by air pollution along with Linfen and Lanzhou , all in China. In 2008, Toronto Star listed Ürümqi as one of

672-644: Is also the time when the Buddhist faith and the Greco-Buddhist culture started to travel along the Silk Road, entering China from around the 1st century BCE. Daxia Daxia , Ta-Hsia , or Ta-Hia ( Chinese : 大夏 ; pinyin : Dàxià ; literally: 'Great Xia') was apparently the name given in antiquity by the Han Chinese to Tukhara or Tokhara : the main part of Bactria , in what

756-529: Is now northern Afghanistan , and parts of southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan . The name "Daxia" first appears in Chinese accounts from the 3rd century BCE, to designate a kingdom in the far west – possibly a consequence of the first contacts with the expansion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom – and then is used by the explorer Zhang Qian in 126 BCE to designate Bactria. It is possible that "Daxia", in part, conflated or confused Tokhara with

840-432: Is often indicated by the names of their mosques. By 1762, more than 500 shops had already been opened by Chinese migrants to the area of modern-day Ürümqi. Those Qing literati who visited Dihua were impressed by its cultural sophistication and similarity to eastern China. The writer Ji Yun compared Dihua to Beijing, in that both had numerous wine shops which offered daily performances of Chinese music and dance. In 1870,

924-519: Is situated near the northern route of the Silk Road , the present city is relatively new. The earliest known settlement in the area can be dated to the 7th century CE, but there was no permanent settlement for a long period and it was not known as Ürümqi until the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th century. The current city dates from the rebuilding started in the 18th century. During prehistory,

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1008-409: Is the commercial center for business, shopping and amusement. Youhao Group ( 友好集团 ), the namesake local enterprise, owns a major market share of retails. Maison Mode Urumqi ( 乌鲁木齐美美百货 ), open since 2008, became one of the few notable department stores for luxury merchandise in the city. The Ürümqi Economic and Technological Development Zone (UETD) located in the northern Toutunhe District , has been

1092-662: Is the largest real estate enterprise and most powerful privately owned company in Xinjiang and is currently engaged in energy and automobiles. China CITIC Bank Mansion , headquarters of Guanghui, located in one of the CBDs in North Xinhua Road, is the tallest building in Ürümqi and Xinjiang; with a height of 229 metres (751 feet), it is also the tallest in Northwestern China and Central Asia . Zhongshan Road (Sun Yat-sen Road; Chinese: 中山路 ) has been one of

1176-572: Is the largest airport in Xinjiang, and the only airport in China to serve flights from Afghanistan and Tajikistan . Ürümqi is Xinjiang's main rail hub with two primary railway stations, the older Ürümqi South railway station (formerly the Urumqi railway station) and Ürümqi railway station opened in July 2016. The Lanzhou-Xinjiang High Speed Railway stops at both stations, running from Ürümqi to Lanzhou railway station , and has been in operation since

1260-578: Is the largest glacier near a major city in China, but has already split into two smaller glaciers. As the Ürümqi region's population and economy are growing, the water demand exceeds the natural supply. To alleviate water shortages, the Irtysh–Ürümqi Canal was constructed in the first decade of the 21st century. The canal's main trunk terminates in the so-called "Reservoir 500" ( "500"水库 ; 44°12′00″N 87°49′00″E  /  44.20000°N 87.81667°E  / 44.20000; 87.81667 ) in

1344-633: The Battle of Ürümqi took place between the Turkic Muslim forces of Yaqub Beg against the Dungan Muslim forces of Tuo Ming (Daud Khalifa). With the help of Xu Xuegong's Han Chinese militia, Yaqub Beg's forces defeated the Dungans. Gongning Cheng was captured, its Qing administrator killed, and the city burnt to the ground and abandoned. The Qing later regained control of Ürümqi. In 1884,

1428-551: The Dzungar Khanate . Qing forces expanded the town into a walled city from 1763 to 1767. Upon completing the expansion, the Qing renamed the city Dihua (Chinese: 迪化 ; previously romanized as "Tihwa"), which means "to enlighten and civilize". Believing the name "Dihua" to be belittling and ethnically chauvinist , the Chinese Communist Party restored the name "Ürümqi" on 1 February 1954. Although Ürümqi

1512-749: The First Battle of Ürümqi and the Second Battle of Ürümqi took place between the forces of Ma Zhongying 's 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) and Jin Shuren and Sheng Shicai 's provincial forces. At the second battle, Ma was assisted by the Han Chinese General Zhang Peiyuan . On 1 February 1954, following the founding of the People's Republic of China , the city's name was officially changed back to Ürümqi. The ruling Chinese Communist Party believed that

1596-532: The Ghulja incident resulted in 20 deaths and scores of injuries. In the largest eruption of ethnic violence in China in decades, there were riots in July 2009 between ethnic Han Chinese and Uyghurs. The New York Times reporter covering the riot described the violence as "clashes with riot police and Uyghurs rampaging through the city and killing Han civilians. Then, for at least three days, bands of Han vigilantes roamed Urumqi, attacking and killing Uyghurs." Before

1680-547: The Guangxu Emperor established Xinjiang as a province, with Dihua as its capital. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Xinjiang was ruled from Ürümqi by a succession of warlords: Yang Zengxin (1911–1928), Jin Shuren (1928–1933), Sheng Shicai (1933–1942), and Zhang Zhizhong (1942–1949) as governor of Xinjiang. Of these, Yang and Sheng were considered capable rulers. During the Kumul Rebellion ,

1764-653: The Indo-Greeks , and could hardly defend their northern provinces. According to W. W. Tarn, The remaining of the Sai-Wang tribes apparently seized the Greek province of Ferghana… It was easy at this time to occupy Ferghana: Eucratides had just overthrown the Euthydemid dynasty, he himself was with his army in India, and in 159 he met his death… Heliocles , preoccupied first with the recovery of Bactria and then with

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1848-622: The Jade Gate about 100 BCE with 10,000 men and 1,000 horses. Contacts with the West were re-established following the peace treaty with the Yuan. Ambassadors were once again sent to the West, caravans were sent to Bactria. The Silk Road essentially came into being from the 1st century BCE, following the efforts of China to consolidate a road to the Western world, both through direct settlements in

1932-673: The Oxus in Bactria , definitively cutting Dayuan from contact with the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The Yuezhi would further expand southward into Bactria proper around 125 BCE, and then going on to form the Kushan Empire in the 1st century CE. The Dayuan remained a healthy and powerful civilization which had numerous contacts and exchanges with China from 130 BCE. Around 130 BCE, at the time of Zhang Qian 's embassy to Central Asia,

2016-702: The Yuezhi , the Wusun or the Xiongnu who were nomads. They have walled cities and houses; the large and small cities belonging to them, fully seventy in number, contain an aggregate population of several hundreds of thousands…There are more than seventy other cities in the country. The Shiji comments on the appearance and the culture of the people around Dayuan: Although the states from Dayuan west to Anxi speak rather different languages, their customs are generally similar and their languages mutually intelligible. The men all have deep-set eyes and profuse beards and whiskers. They are skillful at commerce and will haggle over

2100-656: The caravans along the northern route of the Silk Road. After the Tang retreated from the Western Regions , the region came under the control of the Uyghurs of the Khaganate and Gaochang / Qocho . There is little information about the Ürümqi area during the time between the Tang and Qing dynasties, and researchers believe that there were no permanent settlements there for most of this period. The Mongols referred to

2184-428: The "heavenly horses" and the envoys from foreign states began to arrive with their retinues, the lands on all sides of the emperor's summer palaces and pleasure towers were planted with grapes and alfalfa for as far as the eye could see. The Shiji also claims that metal casting was introduced to the Dayuan region by Han deserters : ... the casting of coins and vessels was formerly unknown. Later, however, when some of

2268-410: The 2010 census, the population was recorded as 3,112,559. Part of the increase was due to boundary changes, for example, Miquan was merged into Midong District and became part of Ürümqi in 2007. In 2021, Ürümqi was estimated to have a population of 4.544 million people. Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang. Ürümqi, together with Karamay and Korla , account for 64.5 percent of

2352-618: The Central Government is pursuing. The Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair has been held annually since 1991 and has been upgraded into the first China-Eurasia Expo in 2011. Its purpose is to promote domestic and foreign markets. The 17th Fair has attracted participants from the Ministry of Commerce and the China Council for Promotion of International Trade . Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group

2436-551: The Chinese civilization, opening the way to the formation of the Silk Road that was to link the East and the West in material and cultural exchange from the 1st century BCE to the 15th century. This region was ruled over by Persia starting with Xerxes I , and began to be populated by Greeks starting at this time. When Greeks in other parts of the Persian empire rebelled or otherwise were troublesome, they would be exiled to Sogdia in

2520-427: The Chinese emperor Wudi was informed of the level of sophistication of the urban civilizations of Ferghana , Bactria and Parthia , and became interested in developing commercial relationships with them: Thus the emperor learned of Dayuan , Daxia, Anxi , and the others, all states rich in unusual products whose people cultivated the land and made their living in much the same way as the Chinese. All these states, he

2604-434: The Chinese government to move its administrative buildings and industrial focus from Yining to Ürümqi. The Chinese government also began construction on a railway connecting Ürümqi to China proper in the east. As a result, Xinjiang was culturally and economically reoriented away from Central Asia and toward China proper. In the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping relaxed China's tight control over Xinjiang, and Ürümqi benefited from

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2688-583: The Chinese soldiers attached to the Han embassies ran away and surrendered to the people of the area, they taught them how to cast metal and manufacture weapons. Following the reports of Zhang Qian (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu , in vain), the Chinese emperor Wudi became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and Parthia: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan) and

2772-818: The Da Xia. Further to the west, he subjugated the Xi Yu of Liusha, and for the first time the Rong People of Qin were obedient." (Taihang and Bier are located along the Shanxi-Hebei border in China.) The reports of Zhang Qian are preserved in Shiji ("Records of the Great Historian") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE. They describe an important urban civilization of about one million people, living in walled cities under small city kings or magistrates . Daxia

2856-420: The Dayuan capital. After a 40-day siege the Chinese had broken through the outer wall and cut off the water supply. The nobles of Ershi killed their king and sent his head to Li Guangli, offering the Chinese all the horses they wanted. Li accepted the offer, appointed one of the nobles to be the new king and withdrew with the horses. On his return journey all the petty states accepted Chinese sovereignty. He reached

2940-485: The Dayuan to offer them enough horses along with a series of conflicts and mutual disrespect resulted in the death of the Chinese ambassador and the confiscation of the gold sent as payment for the horses. Enraged, and thinking Dayuan weak, the Chinese Emperor in 104 BCE sent out Li Guangli , the brother of his favorite concubine. He was given 6,000 horsemen and '30,000 young men of bad reputation rounded up from

3024-430: The Dayuan were described as inhabitants of a region corresponding to the Ferghana , far to the west of the Chinese empire. The capital of the kingdom of Dayuan is the city of Guishan ( Khujand ), distant from Chang'an 12,550 li (Shiji,123 calls the capital Ershi). The kingdom contains 60,000 families, comprising a population of 300,000, with 60,000 trained troops, a Viceroy, and a National Assistant Prince. The seat of

3108-771: The Dzungar town that was later destroyed during the Qing conquest. The Mongolians also used the area as herding ground in this period. Steppe peoples had used the location, the pass between the Bogda Shan to the east and the Tian Shan to the west, connecting the Dzungar Basin to the north and the Turpan Depression to the south. Ürümqi remained a small town of lesser importance than the oasis and Silk Road trade center Turpan 200 km (120 mi) to

3192-640: The Governor General lies to the east at a distance of 4,031 li. To their south-west were the territories of the Yuezhi, with the Greco-Bactrians further south still, beyond the Oxus . The great Yueh-chih is situated about 2000 or 3000 li west of Dayuan; they dwell north of the river Kuei (Oxus). To the south of them there is Daxia ( Bactrians ), to the west, Anxis ( Parthians ); to the north Kangju ( Sogdians ). The Shiji then explains that

3276-445: The Qing government established state farms in the under-populated areas around Ürümqi, where there was fertile, well-watered land. Manchu soldiers also constructed a temple with red walls dedicated to Guandi on Pingding mountain overlooking Ürümqi, which gave Ürümqi the nickname "Red Temple". The Manchus began to construct a walled city in 1763 to the south of the first fort, and it was completed in 1767. The Qianlong Emperor named

3360-456: The Seleucids), T'iau-chi ( Chaldea ), and Shon-tu ( India )... As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six." ( Shiji , 123) The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses ("heavenly horses") in the possession of the Dayuan, which were of capital importance to fight the nomadic Xiongnu. The refusal of

3444-471: The Top Ten worst places to live in the world due to sulphurous pollution. Heavy haze is extremely common in winter, which frequently affects air traffic. Officials believed that severe winter air pollution in Ürümqi is mainly caused by energy-heavy industries and the outdated coal-firing winter heating system. According to a report by Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Fudan University ,

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3528-629: The Yuezhi originally inhabited the Hexi Corridor , before they were defeated by the Xiongnu under Mao-tun and later his son in 176 BCE, forcing them to go beyond the territory of the Dayuan and resettle in the West by the banks of the Oxus, between the territory of the Dayuan and Bactria to the south. The customs of the Dayuan are said by Zhang Qian to be identical to those of the Bactrians in

3612-694: The area by the Persian Empire , as well as the subsequent Greek colonists that were settled by Alexander the Great in Ferghana in 329 BCE (see Alexandria Eschate ), and had prospered within the Hellenistic realm of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians , until they were isolated by the migrations of the Yuezhi around 160 BCE and the Scythians in 140. It appears that the name "Yuan" was simply

3696-649: The area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west. Intense trade followed soon, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk (supplied by the Parthians) from the 1st century BCE, to the point that the Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds. This is attested by at least three significant authors: This

3780-402: The average PM 2.5 and TSP concentrations in the winter of 2007 were 12 times higher than USA standard for PM 2.5 and 3 times the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of China for TSP. The sulfur dioxide from industrial emissions mixed with the local anthropogenic aerosol with the transported soil dust from outside the city were the main sources of the high concentration of sulfate, one of

3864-403: The country of the Dahae (on the south-eastern shores of the Caspian Sea), who were usually known in classical Chinese sources as the Dayi ( Chinese : 大益 ; pinyin : Dayi ). Daxia is mentioned by, for instance, Chapter VIII (Xiao Kuang) of the Guanzi (7th Century BCE): "In the west [Duke Huan]... having passed through the valleys of the Taihang and Bier, took captive the chief of

3948-432: The development of the oil and gas industry in Xinjiang. New mosques were built in Ürümqi with financial assistance from the Chinese government. While the Chinese government implemented strict rules on religion in southern Xinjiang, the treatment of the Uyghurs and their religion in Ürümqi were more lax and permissive. In May 1989, unrest in Ürümqi resulted in 150 injuries. In February 1997, bombings in Ürümqi following

4032-409: The east became a Han Chinese town commonly called "Hancheng" ( 漢城 ; 'Han City'). The Ürümqi of the early period was therefore a twin-city , with Gongning Cheng forming the administrative center while Dihua grew into Xinjiang's commercial and financial center. Han Chinese from all over China moved into Dihua, as did Chinese Hui Muslims from Gansu and Shaanxi . The origin of Hui in Ürümqi

4116-408: The end of 2014. The city is served by several conventional rail lines. Ürümqi is the western terminus of the Lanzhou–Xinjiang (Lanxin) and Ürümqi–Dzungaria (Wuzhun) Railway, and the eastern terminus of the Northern Xinjiang (Beijiang) and the Second Ürümqi–Jinghe railway . The Beijiang and the Lanxin Lines form part of the Trans-Eurasian Continental Railway , which runs from Rotterdam through

4200-400: The far north-eastern suburbs of the city (on the border of Ürümqi's suburban Midong District and Fukang City). A new industrial area, called Ganquanbao Industrial Park ( 甘泉堡工业园 ), or Industrial New City 500 ( 500工业新城 ) was being developed in 2009, west of the reservoir, relying on it for water supply. From the reservoir area water is further distributed over a network of canals throughout

4284-401: The far northeast of the Persian empire, the most distant segment from their homelands. The largest city in this northeastern outpost of the Persian empire was known to the Greeks as Cyropolis , after the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great . By the time of the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great, Greek villages, language, and culture were therefore all common in this area. The region of Ferghana

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4368-406: The first known contacts between China and the West around 200 BCE. Various statuettes and representations of Greek soldiers have been found north of the Tien Shan , and are today on display in the museum of Urumqi (Boardman). Around 160 BCE, the area of Ferghana seems to have been invaded by Saka tribes (called the Sai-Wang by the Chinese). The Sai-Wang, originally settled in the Ili valley in

4452-447: The general area of Lake Issyk Kul , were retreating southward after having been dislodged by Yuezhi (who themselves were fleeing from the Xiongnu ): The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai ("Sai-Wang") who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands The Sakas occupied the Greek territory of Dayuan, benefiting from the fact that the Greco-Bactrians were fully occupied with conflicts in India against

4536-466: The highest academic level in Xinjiang, under the Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction . The name "Ürümqi" comes from the Mongolic Oirat language and means "beautiful pasture" ( Oirat : Үрмч , romanized:  Ürmç , [yrəmˈt͡ʃə] ). It was originally the name of a small town founded by the Oirat-speaking Dzungars , a Mongolic ethnic group . The Qing dynasty took Ürümqi by force in 1755, during its conquest of

4620-408: The invasion of India, must have let this outlying province go The Saka rule of Dayuan possibly started in 160 BCE. When the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian described Dayuan around 128 BCE, he mentioned, besides the flourishing urbanized civilization, there were warriors "shooting arrows on horseback", a probable description of nomadic horse archers that were typical of the steppe civilizations at

4704-418: The largest in Central Asia in terms of population. Ürümqi has seen significant economic development since the 1990s and currently serves as a regional transport node and a cultural, political and commercial center. Ürümqi is one of the top 500 cities in the world by scientific research output , as tracked by the Nature Index . The city is also home to Xinjiang University , a comprehensive university with

4788-421: The leadership of its Greek governors Diodotus of Bactria , to become the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . The Greco-Bactrians held their territory, and according to the Greek historian Strabo even went beyond Alexandria Eschate and "extended their empire as far as the Serica and the Phryni " ( Strabo XI.XI.I ). There are indications that they may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar in Xinjiang , leading to

4872-424: The lower Midong District. Ürümqi lies on the boundary between a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfa ) and a cool semi-arid climate ( BSk ). It sees vast differences between summer and winter temperatures, featuring very warm to hot summers, with a July daily average of 24.2 °C (75.6 °F), and frigid winters, with a January daily average of −12.2 °C (10.0 °F). The annual average temperature

4956-455: The main factors causing the heavy air pollution over Ürümqi. Because of the use of a single time zone for all of China, in Ürümqi which is at a far western location in China, the sun is 2 hours and 10 minutes behind China Standard Time (CST = UTC +8). During early January the sun does not rise until 09:45 and it sets between 18:45 and 19:10 local time. In September and March, the sun rises around 08:00, and sets around 19:45. However, in June

5040-510: The major districts. Despite the old city areas being primarily in the south, the development in the north part began since the late 1980s. The completion of the new office tower for Ürümqi Municipal Government in 2003 at Nanhu Square ( 南湖广场 ) in Nanhu Road marked a shift of the city center to the north. Lacking a subway, the city commenced the construction of viaducts for Outer Ring Road ( 外环路 ) since 2003, which considerably facilitates transport. Youhao Road ( 友好路 ) and surrounding neighborhood,

5124-413: The name "Dihua", which literally means "to enlighten and civilize", was belittling and ethnically chauvinist . Ürümqi became the de facto political and economic capital of Xinjiang in 1962, following protests against Chinese rule in the previous capital Yining (Ghulja). In what came to be known as the Yi–Ta incident , 60,000 Chinese citizens left Yining and Tacheng for the Soviet Union , prompting

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5208-423: The new settlement "Dihua" (Chinese: 迪化 ; pinyin: Díhuà ; Manchu : Wen de dahabure fu ), meaning "to enlighten and civilize". In 1771, another city named Gongning Cheng ( 鞏寧城 ) was built nearby to the northwest to house Manchu bannermen, and this would become the seat of government. The bannermen settlement to the west was commonly referred to as "Mancheng" ( 滿城 ; 'Manchu City'), while Dihua to

5292-528: The possessions of Bactria and Parthia are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" ( Shiji , 123) The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as Seleucid Syria."Thus more embassies were dispatched to An-si ( Parthia ), An-ts'ai (the Aorsi, or Alans ), Li-kan (Syria under

5376-450: The provinces'. General Li lost many men along the way in petty fights with local rulers. After a severe defeat at a place called Yucheng Li concluded that he was not strong enough to take the enemy capital and therefore returned to Dunhuang (about 102 BCE). Emperor Wudi responded by giving Li Guangli a much larger army along with a huge number of oxen, donkeys and camels to carry supplies. With this force he had no difficulty reaching Ershi,

5460-417: The riot broke out, young Uyghurs had marched through the city "to protest a case of judicial discrimination". According to official figures, most of the 197 killed in the riot were Han, a statement which New York Times reporter Edward Wong says is disputed by Uyghurs. The largest city in western China , Ürümqi has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most remote city from any sea in

5544-426: The site of the future Ürümqi was occupied by a nomadic people known in Chinese accounts as the Jushi , who lived mainly on the northern slopes of the surrounding Tianshan Mountains. The Jushi are often regarded as likely precursors of the Tocharian peoples , who later established city states in the Tarim Basin , south of the present site of Ürümqi. The oldest known settlement, a town called Urabo (Chinese: Wulabo),

5628-427: The snow-capped Tian Shan mountains: the main range of the Tian Shan in south of the city (Ürümqi County), and the Bogda Shan east of the city ( Dabancheng District ). There are 20,000 glaciers in Xinjiang – nearly half of all the glaciers in China. Since the 1950s, Xinjiang's glaciers have retreated by between 21 percent to 27 percent due to global warming . Tianshan Glacier No. 1 ( 一号冰川 ), origin of Ürümqi River,

5712-480: The south of the walled-city of Dihua, and although the walls have since been demolished, the Muslims are still concentrated there. A census in 1787 showed that there were 114,348 Hui and Han in the prefectures of Zhenxi (which included Barköl and Hami ) and Ürümqi. In Ürümqi city itself, there were 39,000 people in the 1880s and by the early 20th century, 50,000 people. Ürümqi in 1908 was said to have been inhabited by Uyghurs (then called Turkis), Chinese, Manchus and

5796-439: The south, who actually formed the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom at that time. Their customs (the Bactrians) are the same as those of Dayuan. The people have fixed abodes and live in walled cities and regular houses like the people of Dayuan. They have no great kings or heads, but everywhere in their walled cities and settlements they have installed small kings. They are described as town-dwellers, as opposed to other populations such as

5880-421: The southeast. Fighting for the control of Dzungaria led to the Khoshuuts (now classified as Mongols) leaving Ürümqi for Qinghai and Tibet in the 1620s and 1630s. The Uyghurs were introduced into the Ürümqi area in the 18th century by the Dzungars who moved them from the west Tarim region to be taranchis or farmers in Ürümqi. In the 18th century, the Qing went to war against the Dzungar Khanate . Ürümqi

5964-419: The southwestern suburbs of Ürümqi ( Ürümqi County ) was designated by local geography experts as the "center point of Asia" in 1992, and a monument to this effect was erected there in the 1990s. The site is a local tourist attraction. Although surrounded by deserts (the Gurbantünggüt in the north and the Taklamakan in the south), the Ürümqi area is naturally watered by a number of small rivers flowing from

6048-485: The state of Tajikistan . Alexander built a 6 kilometer long brick wall around the city and, as similarly in the cases of the other cities he founded, had a garrison of his retired veterans and wounded settle there. The whole of Bactria , Transoxiana and the area of Ferghana remained under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire until 250 BCE. The region then wrested independence under

6132-636: The sun rises at about 06:25 and does not set until 21:45. Ürümqi currently comprises 8 county-level subdivisions: 7 districts and 1 county . Ürümqi has been a multi-ethnic city from the time of the Qing conquest; in the early years, the Manchus lived in Gongning Cheng, Han Chinese in Dihua and various other ethnic groups such as the Hui, Uyghurs and others in the suburban districts. Muslims settled to

6216-481: The ten most famous commercial streets in China since 2005. Zhongshan Road has always been the hub of consumer electronics in the city, with the largest computer, mobile phone and consumer electronics market in Xinjiang, including Baihuacun, Cyber Digital Plaza and Fountain Plaza. As the economic center in Xinjiang, Ürümqi has expanded its urban area since the 1990s. The CBDs in the city increased rapidly all around

6300-425: The time, of which Saka was one. Dayuan had probably by then become a kingdom of militaristic Saka ruling class exacting taxes and tributes from the local Hellenistic population. Also in 106–101 BCE, during their conflict with China, the country of Dayuan is said to have been an ally with the neighbouring tribes of Kangju (probably Sodgia). The Chinese also record the name of the king of Dayuan as "Mu-Kua",

6384-563: The total industrial output of Xinjiang. Ürümqi is also the largest consumer center in the region, recording ¥ 41.9 billion retail sales of consumer goods in 2008, an increase of 26 percent from 2007. As of 2022 , the city's GDP was CN¥ 389.3 billion ( US$ 57.9 billion ), while the GDP per capita was around CN¥95,511 ( US$ 14,200 ). Ürümqi has been a central developmental target for the China Western Development project that

6468-406: The wealthier inhabitants keeping as much as 10,000 or more piculs stored away. It can be kept for as long as twenty or thirty years without spoiling. The people love their wine and the horses love their alfalfa. The Han envoys brought back grape and alfalfa seeds to China and the emperor for the first time tried growing these plants in areas of rich soil. Later, when the Han acquired large numbers of

6552-488: The wider area as Bishbalik , meaning five cities, a reference to the five towns that surrounded the present-day Ürümqi area. The Oirat -speaking Dzungar tribes that formed the Dzungar Khanate were the last major power to control Ürümqi before the Manchus gained control of Xinjiang. During the Ming dynasty , there was a record of a place at Jiujiawan 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to the west of present Ürümqi, which may have been

6636-559: The world. It is about 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) from the nearest coastline as Ürümqi is the closest major city to the Eurasian pole of inaccessibility , although Karamay and Altay , both in Xinjiang, are closer. The city has an administrative area of 10,989 square kilometres (4,243 sq mi) and has an average elevation of 800 metres (2,600 ft). The location 43°40′52″N 87°19′52″E  /  43.68111°N 87.33111°E  / 43.68111; 87.33111 in

6720-443: Was an affluent country with rich markets, trading in an incredible variety of objects, coming as far as Southern China. By the time Zhang Qian visited Daxia, there was no longer a major king and the Bactrians were suzerains to the nomadic Yuezhi , who were settled to the north of their territory beyond the Oxus . Overall, Zhang Qian depicted a rather sophisticated but demoralized people who were afraid of war. Following these reports,

6804-502: Was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BCE and became his most advanced base in Central Asia. He founded (probably by occupying and renaming Cyropolis) the fortified city of Alexandria Eschate (Lit. "Alexandria the Furthest") in the southwestern part of the Ferghana valley, on the southern bank of the river Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes), at the location of the modern city of Khujand (also called Khozdent, formerly Leninabad), in

6888-555: Was located about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the southern suburbs of the present-day Ürümqi. Han Chinese states, located to the east, exerted increasing control of the Tarim Basin. Under the name Luntai , the city was founded by the Tang government, in 648 CE, the 22nd year of Emperor Taizong 's reign, as part of the Protectorate General to Pacify the West . It was a seat of local government and collected taxes from

6972-555: Was taken by the Qing in 1755, and the Dzungars of the region were eliminated in the Dzungar genocide . One writer, Wei Yuan , described the resulting desolation in what became northern Xinjiang as "an empty plain for a thousand li , with no trace of man". A fort was built (either in 1755 or 1758 depending on sources), and the Qing then established garrisons of Manchu and Mongol bannermen and Han Chinese troops at Ürümqi. After 1759,

7056-556: Was told, were militarily weak and prized Han goods and wealth. ( Shiji 123) These contacts immediately led to the dispatch of multiple embassies from the Chinese, initiating the development of the Silk Road . Urumqi Ürümqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China . With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an , as well as

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