Aral, Xinjiang


Aral is a sub-prefecture-level city surrounded by Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Aral means "island" in Uyghur. The city's name is also often written as Alar.

History

Aral was created by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps to facilitate Han Chinese immigration to the region. It became a city in 2002 and its population increased to 166,205 in 2010.
On January 23, 2013, of territory was transferred from Awat County to Aral city and of territory was transferred from Aksu city to Aral city.

Geography

The city has an administrative area of. It is bordered by mountainous regions to the north and northwest and the Taklamakan Desert to the east and south.

Demographics

As of 2015, 167,697 of the 179,214 residents of the county were Han Chinese, 6,036 were Uyghur and 5,481 were from other ethnic groups.

Education

is located in Aral.