Akqi County is a county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It is under the administration of the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture. The county has a town and five townships, six communities and 25 villages under its jurisdiction in 2018, its county seat is Akqi Town. The county has a population of about 46,000 (as of 2018) with main ethnic groups of Kyrgyz, Han and Uyghur peoples. The name of Akqi was from the Kyrgyz language, meaning white achnatherum calamagrostis (白芨芨草). The Administrative Division of Akqi (阿合奇设治局) was first established, it was named after its seat located in the Village of Akqi (阿合奇村). The county of Akqi is located in alpine areas of the southern hinterland in Western Tianshan. Its altitude is between 1,730 - 5,958 meters, with a terrain characteristics of the "two mountains and one valley", its whole territory is in a mountain valley area, of which, highland accounts for 90 percent, farmland for five percent and water body for five percent. The county covers an area of about 11,545 km2, it borders with Wushi County in the east, Keping County in the southeast, Bachu County and Atushi City in the south-west, the northern and western part of the county is adjacent to the Kyrgyz Republic with a border line of 305.3 km. The county seat is 1,180 km away from the regional capital Ürümqi by road.

History

The county of Akqi was part of the territory of Weitou State (尉头国), one of 36 States of the Western Regions (西域三十六国), and part of Protectorate of the Western Regions (59 BC) in the Han period. It was part of Weitou Prefecture (尉头州) in Kucha Commandery (龟兹都督府) in the Tang period, and part of Wushi County in the Qing period. The Administrative Division of Akqi (阿合奇设治局) was first established from part of Wushi County in 1940, it was named after its seat located in the Village of Akqi (阿合奇村) in the present Karaqi Township (哈拉奇乡). In 1941, its seat was moved to Uq (吾曲), the present-day county seat of Akqi Town (阿合奇镇). The Administrative Division of Akqi was upgraded to be as a county in 1944. The county was under the administration of Aksu Prefecture in 1950, as a county, it was amalgamated to the newly formed Kyrgyz autonomous prefecture of Kizilsu in 1954.

Geography and Climate

The county of Akqi is high in the north and south, low in the middle, and tilted from west to east. Forming land features of terrain with two mountains and a valley, in the north, the Kuokexiale Maintain (阔克夏勒山) is a southern branch of Tianshan, with a maximum altitude of 5,958 m. To the south is Galatieke Maintain (喀拉铁克山), with its maximum altitude of 4,981 m. Between the two mountains is the Taushgan Valley (托什干河谷), from west to east through the middle of the county, 3,200 - 1,750 m above sea level. Agricultural oasis is mainly concentrated in the valley area, the mountain natural pastoral land accounts for 86% of the county area. The Taushgan River (托什干河) originates from Kyrgyz Republic and has 19 tributaries with a total runoff of 2.421 billion cubic metres in the county, such as Uzuntux River (乌宗图什河). The annual average temperature is 6.5 °C, the average temperature in January is −10 °C, and the average temperature in July is 18.8 °C. The average annual precipitation is 209.9 mm, with a frost-free period of 156 days.

Population and ethnic groups

As of 2015, There was a population of 44,656 in Akqi County, accounting for 7.49% of Kizilsu Autonomous Prefecture's population. Of that, minority population of 40,121, accounting for 89.84%, and Han population of 4,535, accounting for 10.16%. The main minorities are Kyrgyz and Uyghur in the county. The Kyrgyz population was 38,765, accounting for 86.81%, and Uyghurs of 1,193, accounting for 2.67%. There were Hui people of 80, Kazakhs of 39 and others of 44.

Administrative divisions

The county was divided into a town and five townships.

Tourism