Qitai County


Qitai County, also known as Gucheng County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China under the administration of the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It covers an area of and had a population of 230,000.
Qitai County's county seat is in Qitai Town. Gucheng Township is nearby.

Name

There are several theories regarding the origin of the place name "Qitai." One explanation is that in the 24th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, seven fortresses were built in what is now Laoqitai Town, Qitai County. This seventh fortress east of Ürümqi was called "Qitai". Since the Chinese characters for "seven" and "strange/unique" are homophones, the name later evolved into "Qitai." Another theory is that in the old county seat, due to water shortages, every household dug wells with uniquely shaped "well platforms" called "qi", which was later abbreviated as Qitai. A third theory suggests that "Qitai" is a transliteration of "Khitan", a historic ethnic group.

History

In 119 BC, Zhang Qian led his second mission to the Western Regions, opening diplomatic relations with states such as Wusun and Dayuan.
By 68 BC, General Zheng Ji conquered Jushi, and the region came under Han control; the Han government then established agricultural colonies and administrative offices.
In 629 AD, General Li Jing led a successful campaign against the Eastern Turks, after which the Tang dynasty solidified its control over the northern silk route.
In 640 AD, under Tang Zhenguan 14, Pulai County was established northwest of modern Qitai, under Tingzhou prefecture; by 702 AD, it fell under the Northern Protectorate administration, and by 732 AD the post of military governor was permanently stationed there.
Located on one of the main routes of the Silk Road, the old Gucheng, was the western terminal for one of the caravan routes across the Gobi Desert. Owen Lattimore in The Desert Road to Turkestan leaves an account of his travel along this route in 1926–27.
"Under the special circumstances of the caravan trade, camel traffic usually overshoots Hami , going on all the way to Ku Ch'eng-tze. This is partly because the pastures near Ku Ch'eng-tze are more adequate to caravan needs, but still more because, transport being cheaper by camel than by cart, it is to the advantage of merchants to have their goods carried as far as possible by caravan."

Qitai briefly held city status. In 1953, the Xinjiang Provincial Government—before the region became an autonomous region—promoted the county seat of populous Qitai County to "Qitai City." However, following the 20 September 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which required all local governments to establish revolutionary committees, the autonomous region abolished the City People's Government in 1956. Qitai Town People's Committee was created, administering the town's 12 subdistricts reorganized into 10 residents' committees, under the Qitai County People's Committee. Since then, Qitai City has ceased to exist. 
Qitai has long been a place of multi-century Han Chinese settlement. The local dialect, often referred to as Xinjiang Mandarin or Xinjiang topolect, is considered a highly representative example of Mandarin in Xinjiang. It has been widely used in the region and even featured in performances by famed local sketch comedian Zhao Guozhu, whose "Xinjiang Sketches" are based on the Qitai dialect—earning the county a reputation as a center of Han cultural development in Xinjiang.
In the Cold War era, the United States established a station near Qitai to monitor Soviet nuclear and missile tests, replacing its former station in Iran.

Climate

Economy

Qitai County is the leading grain producer in Xinjiang, ranks second in cultivated land area, and leads in flour and meat production. The county has approximately 2.5 million mu of arable land, with 1.89 million mu sown in 2012—the second-highest in Xinjiang after Shache County in Kashgar Prefecture. Its cultivated area exceeds that of Ürümqi, Bayingolin, Kizilsu, Turpan, and Hami combined. Annually, Qitai produces over 800 million kilograms of grain—accounting for one-third of Changji Prefecture's output and one-sixth of Xinjiang's total—and is designated as a national-level major grain-producing county.
Qitai is also known as the "Hometown of Chinese Snacks"—its guoyourou noodles are popular across Xinjiang, and Qitai yellow noodles are sold in every major city in the region. The county is likewise renowned as a "Liquor Hometown": Gucheng Liquor, produced locally, has earned national recognition as a "China Time-honored Brand" and a "Historical and Cultural Famous Liquor," winning gold at the 2nd International Wine Culture Festival. It also serves as the "master" distillery for Xinjiang Ilite Liquor Co.
The county is also nationally famous for its dinosaur fossils and petrified wood. In 2019, the largest-known Asian specimen of Mamenchisaurus—the "Qitai Yellow River Giant"—was excavated there. In 2020, the "Qitai Dino Park" opened to the public. Tourist attractions like scenic Jiangbulak, the Tianshan Strange Slope, and the Han-era Shule Ancient City draw large seasonal crowds—during peak season, traffic jams occur on the Ürümqi–Qitai Expressway.
Qitai is also rich in mineral resources, including coal, granite, iron, gold, silver, copper, mirabilite, graphite, limestone, bentonite, and perlite among more than 20 types. In particular, the coal reserves in Qitai—part of the Jundong coalfield—are estimated at 280.8 billion tonnes, making it the county with the largest coal reserves in China, surpassing Shenmu, Fugu in Shaanxi and Ordos in Inner Mongolia. The county's granite reserves are also substantial, estimated at 3 billion m3

Subdivisions

Qitai County is made up of 9 towns, 3 townships, and 3 ethnic townships.

Transportation

In 2009, the Ürümqi–Dzungaria Railway was constructed through the Jiangjun Gobi desert in the northern part of the county. It terminates at a coal mine in Jiangjunmiao. In 2024, the Qitai Jiangbulake Airport opened.

The radio telescope project

In 2012, the officials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Xinjiang government presided over the groundbreaking at the site of the Xinjiang Qitai Astronomical and Science Education Base.
The facility, in Qitai County's Banjiegou Town, will be the home of the proposed Qitai Radio Telescope. Once completed it will be the largest fully steerable single-dish radio telescope in the world.