On December 8, 1994, a fire broke out in the Friendship Theater, Karamay. According to official figures, 325 people including 288 school children died. Many teachers were killed while trying to protect and evacuate their students from the building, which lacked adequate safety features. A show was being organized at that moment for a number of local government officials, who managed to escape ahead of the others on spotting the fire, and were afterwards charged with neglecting their duty and received prison sentences of up to five years.
Subdivisions
Karamay City has jurisdiction over four districts. They are not contiguous as Dushanzi District is located south of the Lanxin Railway and forms an exclave, separated from the rest of Karamay City by Kuytun City. Together with Kuytun City, Karamay City forms an enclave surrounded on all sides by Tacheng Prefecture.
Geography
Karamay is located in the northwest of the Dzungarian basin, with an average elevation of. Its administrative area ranges in latitude from 44° 07' to 46° 08' N and in longitude from 80° 44' to 86° 01' E and has a maximal north-south extent and reaches in east-west width. It borders Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County to the northeast, Shawan County to the southeast, Toli County and Wusu to the west and Kuytun to the south. The naturally available water supply in the Karamay area is limited: it mostly consists of two small rivers flowing into the Dzungarian Basin from the mountains of its northwestern rim. In addition, the city receives water from the Irtysh River, over the Irtysh–Karamay Canal, which was officially opened in 2008. A number of natural and artificial reservoirs are located in Karamay's northeastern Urho District; they all are replenished, directly or indirectly, by water from the Irtysh–Karamay Canal.
Climate
Karamay has an extremely continental desert climate, typified by great seasonal extremes in temperature, varying by ; with long, very hot summers and long, severely cold winters with brief spring and autumn in between. The monthly 24-hour average temperature is in January and soars to in July and the annual mean is, warmer than most places at the corresponding latitude, due to the long summers. Annual precipitation is and the summer months record the most rainfall, despite relative humidity levels averaging around 30%. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 37% in December to 71% in September, sunshine is generous, only occurring less than 50% of the time in November and December and the annual average total is 2,694 hours.
Demographics
According to the 2010 census, over 80% of Karamay's population are Han Chinese, with minorities such as Uighur, Kazakhs, Mongols and Hui making up the rest. The population of 2010 is 391,008, a rise from the 270,232 of 2000 census. The population density is 50.6 inhabitants per km². The 2015 population estimate is 401,468. ;Population by ethnicity
In 1955, one of the largest oil fields in China was discovered there. Since then, the city has grown into an oil-producing and refining center. In 2008 the GDP reached ¥66.1 billion and GDP per capita reached ¥242,391, ranking first among 659 cities in mainland China.
Transport
Kuytun–Beitun Railway. There are passenger stations in Karamay itself and in Wuwu New Town, south of central Karamay.
