History of UrumqiBy: user18789, 2007/03/31 12:58 “Urumqi” is said to originate from the Mongolian language, one of many ethnic languages in China, and means "A beautiful Pasture". It was a small oasis settlement and trading post on the caravan routes in west China, strategically situated in a pass in the Tian Shan range separating the Tarim and Turpna basin.
During the 22nd year under the Zhenguan's reign in the Tang Dynasty, 648 A.D., the government established the town of Luntai to supervise the surrounding areas. Luntai is 10 kilometers away from Urumqi nowadays. The town later became a major point of interchange between the Western Region and China’s inner provinces and a stopping-off post for both incoming and outgoing trading caravans.
Urumqi was known as Dihua from 1763 under the reign of the Qing Dynasty. The city was opened to foreign trade after the Sino-Russian Treaty of 1881, and made the capital of the newly-formed Xinjiang province of China in 1884. After the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Urumqi was made the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
~ www.chinahighlights.com
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