Ruoqiang Town (Chinese: 若羌; pinyin: Ruòqiāng; Uyghur: Чакилик: Qakilik or Charkliq) is a town in Ruoqiang County, Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. Ruoqiang Town is the county seat of the Ruoqiang County, and therefore is the place that less detailed maps label as "Ruoqiang County" or just "Ruoqiang". The postal code is 841 800.
There is a two-laned asphalt highway to Korla, 490 km (304 mi) north, and 956 km (594 mi) west to Hotan. There is no motorable road east to Dunhuang in Gansu,[4] but one can now drive southeast through the Altun Shan range and then north through part of the Tsaidam to Dunhuang.
Names
Lionel Giles has recorded the following names for Ruoqiang Town (with his Wade-Giles forms of the Chinese names converted to pinyin):
"Yixun, or Yixiu, capital of Shanshan after 77 B.C. (Note: This is an incorrect identification, the capital's name was, in fact, Yüni 扜泥.)[5]
During the latter part of the Former Han and throughout the Later Han the capital of the kingdom of Shanshan was known as Yüni 扜泥, which was located near the present town of Ruoqiang.[7]
Almost adjacent to the town are the Tieganlike Town, to the east, and Wutamu Township, to the west. They, however, are not administratively part of Ruoqiang Town, but are separate township-level administrative units.
Ruoqiang Town was used by numerous notable explorers as a launching point to the Lop Nor archaeological sites, which are located within 150–200 km (93–124 mi) to the northeast.
Climate
Ruoqiang has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classificationBWk) with extreme seasonal variation in temperature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −7.4 °C (18.7 °F) in January to 27.5 °C (81.5 °F), and the annual mean is 11.7 °C (53.1 °F). Precipitation totals only 29 millimetres (1.1 in) annually, and mostly falls in summer. No month has less than 60% of possible sunshine, and the area receives close to 3,100 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Climate data for Ruoqiang, elevation 888 m (2,913 ft), (1991–2020 normals)
^若羌县历史沿革 [Ruoqiang County Historical Development] (in Simplified Chinese). XZQH.org. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2019. 2010年第六次人口普查，若羌县常住总人口35580人，其中：若羌镇9872人，
^Officially Beijing Time, but locals in Xinjiang observe a different offset. See Xinjiang#Time
^ ab若羌镇 [Ruoqiang Town] (in Simplified Chinese). XZQH.org. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2020. 1984年设若羌镇。1985年，城镇面积2.4平方千米，{...}【2009年代码】652824100：～001胜利社区 ～002文化社区 ～003团结社区
^2014年统计用区划代码和城乡划分代码：若羌镇 [2014 Statistical Area Numbers and Rural-Urban Area Numbers: Ruoqiang Town] (in Simplified Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2020. 代码 城乡分类 名称 652824100001 121 胜利社区居委会 652824100002 122 文化社区居委会 652824100003 121 团结社区居委会 652824100004 121 新城社区居委会 652824100005 121 楼兰社区居委
^2018年统计用区划代码和城乡划分代码：若羌镇 [2018 Statistical Area Numbers and Rural-Urban Area Numbers: Ruoqiang Town] (in Simplified Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2020. 统计用区划代码 城乡分类代码 名称 652824100001 121 胜利社区居民委员会 652824100002 122 文化社区居民委员会 652824100003 121 团结社区居民委员会 652824100004 121 新城社区居民委员会 652824100005 121 楼兰社区居民委员会
Further reading
Giles, Lionel (1930–1932). "A Chinese Geographical Text of the Ninth Century." BSOS VI, pp. 825–846.
Paula, Christa (1994): The Road to Miran: Travels in the Forbidden Zone of Xinjiang. HarperCollins, Great Britain. Flamingo edition 1995.
