Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture[a][b] is an autonomous prefecture in western Xinjiang, China, bordering Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Its capital is Artux. The prefecture is home to 622,222 people (as of 2020[update]) and covers an area of 70,916 km2 (27,381 sq mi). Most Kyrgyz in China reside in Kizilsu; they make up a little over a quarter of the prefecture's population. The Uyghurs are the largest ethnic group in Kizilsu, consisting of nearly two-thirds of the population.
Kizilsu was within the territory of the First East Turkestan Republic, which lasted from November 1933 to April 1934. The establishment of the short-lived breakaway state was thanks in part to a political and military alliance between Uyghurs and Kyrgyz in western Xinjiang.
The Southern Xinjiang Administrative Office of the People's Republic of China established the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region on 14 July 1954. The autonomous region was reorganised as an autonomous prefecture in February 1955.[7][1]
In April 1990, a protest in Barin against Chinese rule in Xinjiang escalated into an armed insurrection, in what came to be known as the Barin uprising or Barin riot.[9]
Subdivisions
Map including the westernmost point of China (DMA, 1982)
According to the 2020 census, Kizilsu has 622,222 inhabitants with a population density of 6.36 inhabitants per km2. Most Kyrgyz in China (80 per cent) reside in Kizilsu.[11] As of 2013[update], 27 per cent of the inhabitants of the prefecture were Kyrgyz.[12]
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^Ole Olufsen (1904). Through the Unknown Pamirs. William Heinemann. p. 5 – via Internet Archive. The Kizilsu Surkhab (Kizilsu being Turkish for Red Water, and Surkhab the Persian for Red Water) has its source near the psas of Ton Murum in Transalai, and, with it broad fertile valley, forms the boundary between the Alai mountains and Transalai, the most northerly range of Pamir.
^克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州历史沿革 [Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture Historical Development] (in Simplified Chinese). XZQH.org. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2020. 1949年,新疆和平解放,境内阿合奇县辖于新疆省阿克苏专区,阿图什、乌恰等县辖于喀什专区。1954年7月,以柯尔克孜族为自治民族的克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州成立。至此,克孜勒苏才形成一个统一的地区级行政建置。
^"Kirgiz ethnic group". State Council Information Office. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2020. The Kirgiz ethnic minority, with a population of 160,823, finds 80 percent of its inhabitants in the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture in the southwestern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
^"Central Officials Visit Kizilsu Region ahead of Xinjiang Autonomy Anniversary". China Central Television Video News Agency. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2020 – via YouTube. Top Chinese political adviser Yu Zhengsheng visited China's westernmost Kizilsu region on Monday, as China prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Bordering Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Kizilsu is the only Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in the country. Some 27 percent of the local population was Kyrgyz in 2013, local government figures show.
^3-7 各地、州、市、县(市)分民族人口数 [3-7 Population by Nationality by Prefecture, State, City and County (City)]. tjj.xinjiang.gov.cn (in Chinese). Statistical Bureau of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 10 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2021.