Bayingolin Overview

Basic Information

  • Chinese Name: 巴音郭楞蒙古自治州
  • Location: Situated in southeast of Xinjiang, People's Republic of China
  • Area: About 471,500 square kilometers
  • Population: 1,279,000
  • Language: Mongolian, Uygur language, Mandarin, etc.

Administrative Divisions

Bayingolin directly administers 1 county-level city and 8 counties, and these divisions are further divided into 61 townships, 24 towns and 5 branch offices.

To know more about Bayingolin Administration Divisions.

Geography

Located in the southeast of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it borders Gansu and Qinghai in east. Relying on Kunlun Mountain in south, it connects Tibet. In west, it neighbors Hotan and Aksu. In north, taking Tianshan Mountain as the boundary, it connects Ili, Tacheng, Changji, Urumqi, Turpan, and Hami. With an area of 471,562 of square kilometers, it accounts for a quarter of the total area of Xinjiang.

Climate

Bayingolin belongs to the typical continental climate, with four distinct seasons, large temperature differences between day and night. In springs, they experience fast but unstable temperature increasing. Autumns experience short periods and fast temperature decreasing, with days of sunny weather, little rain, abundant sunshine, dry air and many winds and much sand.

The Best Time to Go

Because of the large temperature differences between day and night in winters and summers, the best time to visit Bayingolin is spring (March -- May) and autumn (October -- November) when you could enjoy the beauty of the nature with abundant grass growing and everything recovering from the winter as well the golden color of harvest.

Things to Do

As a significant part of the Ancient Silk Road, Bayingolin is a good place to feel the Silk Road culture. Then, China’s largest dessert -- Taklimakan Desert is there, which could provide you with marvelous views of dessert landscape. Besides, the China’s alpine meadow -- Bayanbulak Grassland is not only the wonderful place to give you scenery of prairie, but also the views of lakes, fountains, hot, etc. In southeast of Alkin Mountaineous Area, there is China’s only wild camel natural reserve. There, you can visit China’s largest Euphrates poplar forest reserve. In addition to the dessert, you could also see dessert roads as well.

History & Culture

In the early Western Han Dynasty(206 B.C.-A.D. 24), 11 “city states ” and “Xingguo” (a kind of state for nomadic people) like Ruoqiang, Qiemo, Xiaoyuan, Shanguo, Wulei, Luntou, Quli, Yanqi, Weixu, etc. of the 36 Western Regions States co-existed in Bayingolin Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture. 60 BC, Regions Frontier Command (西域都护府) were established by the the government of the Western Han Dynasty in Wulei (located in Luntai County today).

The third Yongyuan year of Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 91), Western Region Chief Administration Bureau (西域长史府) was set up. The 22nd Zhenguan year of Tang Dynasty (AD 648), Yanqi Protectorate were set up.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the prefecture was the nomadic area of the West Mongolia. Later in different dynasties, different institutes were established to protect and govern the area.

In 1949, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yanqi prefectural commissioner's office was established on April 12, 1950, and it was repealed in 1954 and later established Bayingolin Autonomous Prefecture and Korla prefectural commissioner's office. The later was incorporated to the former In 1960 and the government seat was moved to Korla. In April 1970, Bohu county was set up. The Korla city was founded October 1979. Korla county merged into Korla city so that the present city patter of 1 city and 8 counties formed.

Tourism

Bayingolin is blessed with unique and diverse tourism resources. In addition to Tianshan Mountain, Kunlun mountainous areas, deserts, lakes, prairies, natural scenery of gobi, there are a lot of historical and cultural landscape, such as Iron Gate Pass, the Ancient City of Loulan, Xikeqin Thousand Buddha Caves, Tuins of Miran, etc. In addition to make the best of the abundant tourism resources there, the local government takes advantage of the local historical and cultural resources to develop more distinctive tours so that Bayingolin’s tourism develops well. In 2017, the tourism income of the prefecture amounted to 6 billion.

Economy

Recent years, Bayingolin’s economy sees continuous growth. In 2016, the prefecture reached 90.489 billion yuan of GDP, with an increase of 6% compared to the previous year. During which the first industry realized the added value of 19.908 billion yuan, with an increase of 5.6% over the previous year; the second industry realized the added value of 43.999 billion yuan, with an increase of 4%; the third industry to realized the added value of 26.583 billion yuan, with an increase of 10.8%. For different industries, the industry achieved the added value of 35.945 billion yuan, with an increase of 2.2%; the construction industry achieved the added value of 9.2 billion yuan, with an increase of 13.6%. In 2017, its GDP reached 993,368 yuan.

Festivals

Some nationalities in Bayingolin believe in Islam, so in addition to the regular traditional Chinese festivals and activities, the local celebrate Islamic festivals and activities like Lesser Bairam and Corban Festival. To know more about Bayingolin Festivals and Activities.

Transportation

Bayingolin provides convenient transportation. For aviation, there are flights to Qiemo, Chengdu, Jinan, Beijing, etc.from Korla each week. Each day, there are flights between the prefecture and Urumqi, and it only takes you half an hour.

For railway, there are trains to Urumqi, Hami, Turpan, Lanzhou, Xi’an. The Korla Railway is under construction and it includes Korla Railway Station and Ruoqiang Railway Station.

For highway, there are 7 provincial and national expressways and 5 of them go through the prefecture. A network of long-distance transportation covering both urban and rural areas has formed. Crossing the Tianshan Mountain, there are Shihezi, Karamay and Yining. In west, it reaches Aksu and Kashgar. Passing through Ruoqiang in south, you could reach Golmud of Qinghai. Each days, there are long-distance buses to Urumqi. Korla city provides coaches to the Beston Lake, Hejing, Luntai and Ruoqiang. The newly built highway -- the world first desert highway starting from Luntai county and getting into Taklimakan Desert, and it gets to Minfeng county and Hotan city. To know more about Bayingolin Transportation.

Dining

For staple, people give priority to rice and wheat based food like corn meal, noodles, millet, etc. For meat, they prefer mutton and beef, fish, prawn, chicken, duck, etc. People there also like eat edible wild herbs. Fro those who believe in Islam, mostly the minorities, they would not each pork, but for Han people there, eat pork. In most places in Xinjiang, you could eat some common dishes and snacks like nang, Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken, etc. To know more about Bayingolin Dining.