Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County


Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang, is the only Xibe autonomous county of the People's Republic of China, bordering Kazakhstan's Almaty Region to the west. It has an area of 4,430 square kilometers and a population 160,000. Qapqal means "the granary" in the Xibe language.

Subdivisions

The Xibe, sent to garrison the area by the Qing dynasty, were divided into eight niru ; each niru established a settlement. The settlements are thus simply referred to as "First Niru" through "Eighth Niru", with the exception of the settlement established by the Sixth, which came to be known as Qapqal, thus giving the county its name.
NumberXibe nameChinese name% Xibe% Han% OtherPopulationNumber of villagesSource
1Uju Niru乌珠牛录乡61.820.917.3---
2Jai Niru扎依牛录乡72.215.512.3---
3Ilaci Niru依拉齐牛录乡73.212.314.5---
4Duici Niru堆依齐牛录乡32.928.438.7---
5Sunjaci Niru孙扎齐牛录镇38.21546.880334
6Ningguci Niru or Capcal察布查尔镇293239---
7Nadaci Niru纳达齐牛录乡41.63224.6---
8Jakûci Niru扎库齐牛录乡72.215.512.313,0005

Media

The county has one Xibe language newspaper, the Qapqal News. A television station broadcasts a few programmes in Xibe as well each month, with Chinese language content the rest of the time.