Baicheng County


Baicheng County as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Bay County, is a county in Aksu Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.

History

In 1882, the county was established.
According to a report from Radio Free Asia, on February 17, 2015, seventeen Uyghurs were killed in an incident from a police station in the county.
On September 18, 2015, there were a large number of casualties including police in an attack at a coalmine at the Sogan Colliery in Terek. On November 13, twenty-eight persons were killed and one captured in connection with a manhunt for suspects involved in the coalmine attack. In interview with Radio Free Asia, county police officers confirmed that women and children were among those killed in November.
On December 5, 2019 at around 10:46 a.m., a 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck the county.

Geography

The county is located in the northern part of the prefecture, occupying the valley of the Muzart River between the southern slopes of the Tengritagh and the Qoltagh.

Administrative divisions

Towns:
Townships:
The county’s economy is based on agriculture and produces rapeseed in abundance. Animal husbandry is also common. Mineral resources are rich. Industries include coal, iron, electronics, fertilizer, tractors, vegetable oil extraction, etc. The Tianshan Mountains have lush spruce forests.

Demographics

As of 2015, 212,272 of the 241,079 residents of the county were Uyghur, 26,559 were Han Chinese and 2,248 were from other ethnic groups.
As of 1999, 87.03% of the population of the county were Uyghur and 12.08% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

Historical English-language maps including the county: