Ruoqiang County
Ruoqiang County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Qakilik County (; ), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China under the administration of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. It covers an area of (about twice the size of Zhejiang province and similar to Kyrgyzstan or Senegal), making it the largest county-level division in the country. The county seat is in Ruoqiang Town. This is the location which less-detailed maps will label as "Ruoqiang". It lies at an altitude of . History. The ancient settlement of Charklik was located in what is today  Ruoqiang County. The Charkhlik Revolt took place here in 1935 when Uyghurs revolted against the Hui-dominated Tunganistan, which was controlled by the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army). The Uyghurs were defeated. The county was established in 1902 as ("Ruòqiāng", "recalcitrant Qiang"). In 1959, the less-offensive written form of "若羌" ("like the Qiang") was adopted. The Uyghur name of the county, "Çakilik", is transliterated in Chinese as "" ("Qiǎkèlǐkè"). On July 24, 2015, Tieganlike was changed from a township to a town. Geography. Ruoqiang County ranges in latitude from 36° 00' to 41° 23' N and in longitude  from 86° 45 to 93° 45' E. It borders Qiemo County to the west, Yuli County, Piqan County, and Kumul to the north, the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai to the east, and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south. The populated areas are located mostly along the northern foothills of the Altyn-Tagh mountain range. North of this strip of irrigated agricultural settlement is the Taklamakan Desert, south, the Altyn-Tagh and Kunlun Mountains. The well known Lop Lake, these days usually dry, is located in the northeastern part of the county - the section officially known as  Luobu Po Town (), i.e., Lop Lake Town. The southern part of the county (administratively, Qimantag Township ()), is mountainous. The highest point in Qinghai, Bukadaban Feng, is located on the border of Qinghai and Ruoqiang County. The high plateau between the Altyn-Tagh and the main Kunlun range (which includes the Ulugh Muztagh) is known as the Kumkol Basin: an endorheic basin, where several saline lakes are found. Part of Altun Shan National Nature Reserve is located in Qimantag Township, in southern Ruoqiang County. The three main lakes in the Kumkol Basin are Lake Aqqikkol (also known as Achak-kum; ; , elevation ), Lake Ayakum (); ; elevation ), and Lake Jingyu (, , elevation). These lakes are among the few noticeable bodies of water in this extremely arid area; the area around them is officially protected as the Altun Shan Nature Reserve. Climate. Ruoqiang has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classification "BWk") with extreme seasonal variation in temperature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to , and the annual mean is . Precipitation totals only annually, and mostly falls in summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 63% in March to 82% in October, the area receives close to 3,100 hours of bright  sunshine annually. Administrative divisions. The county is made up of five towns, three townships and other areas: Economy. , there was about 2,740 acres (18,113 "mu") of cultivated land in Qakilik. Demographics. As of 2015, 18,983 (55.8%) of the 34,020 residents of the county were Han Chinese, 13,328 (39.2%) were Uyghur and 1,709 were from other ethnic groups. , the county had a population of 31,877, of which 18,957 (59.5%) were of Han ethnicity, while Uyghurs numbered 11,761 (36.9%). As of 1999, 58.72% of the population of the county was Han Chinese and 38.2% of the population was Uyghur. As of 1997 , several township-level divisions had a majority or plurality of Uyghur residents including Wutamu Township (62.3%), Tieganlike Township (61.3%), Ruoqiang Town (57.9%), and Waxxari (Washixia) Township (43.9%). Transportation. Plans also exist for the construction of the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway. The following expressways are under construction in the county: