Fuhai County

In 1921, the area was incorporated as Burultokay County, adapting the Kazakh endonym "Burultokay", meaning "colorful jungle".[2] The county was renamed as Fuhai County in 1942.[2]

A false-color satellite image of Ulungur Lake

The Altay Mountains run through Fuhai County, and the county's two main rivers which flow through the area the Ulungur River and the Ertix River (Irtysh).[2][1] Ulungur Lake is located in Fuhai County.[3]

Fuhai County is bordered by Mongolia to its northeast, Fuyun County to its east, Fukang City to its south, and by Jimunai County, Tacheng Prefecture, and Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County all to its west.[2]

The county's elevation ranges from 386 to 3,332 m (1,266 to 10,932 ft) in height, with an average elevation of approximately 500 m (1,640 ft).[2]

Fuhai County is directed divided into three towns, three townships, one township-level farm, one prison, and a number of areas administered by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.[4]

A bilingual sign for a disease control center in Fuhai County

Fuhai County is an ethnically diverse county home to 32 different ethnic groups.[2] Ethnic Kazakhs and Han Chinese peoples both comprise large pluralities of the county's population, accounting for 48.25% and 45.65% of the county's population, respectively.[2] Fuhai County also has sizable Hui and Uyghur populations.[2]

Fuhai County has 1.2 million acres of cultivated land and 23 million acres of grassland, and is the home of the Altay Sheep.[2] In 2013, the county was named the camel milk capital of China.[2] Aquaculture is also present in the county, particularly in Ulungur Lake.[3]

The county is home to a number of natural resources, including oil, natural gas, iron ore, spodumene.[2] The county's proven natural gas reserves total 105.3 billion cubic meters, and the county's oil reserves are more than 11 million tons.[2] Geologic surveys exploring the county's copper, lead, zinc, gold, beryllium, lithium, niobium, tantalum, rubidium, cesium, and muscovite have been conducted.[3] Clay has also been mined in Fuhai County since the 1980s.[3]

Hongshanzui Port, a land border crossing with Mongolia, is located within Fuhai County.[3] The county government has announced efforts to improve the crossing's poor infrastructure in order to expand commerce through the crossing.[3]

China National Highway 216 and China National Highway 218 both run through the county.[1] Xinjiang Provincial Highway 318 and Xinjiang Provincial Highway 324 also run through the county.[2]

The Kuytun–Beitun railway passes through Fuhai County.[2]

Kazakh culture is prevalent in Fuhai County due to its large Kazakh population, particularly Kazakh dastans, Kazakh embroidery, Kazakh yurts, and a number of horse-related traditions unique to Kazakh culture.[7]

Starting in 1988, the county government began undertaking research regarding dastans in the hope of preserving them.[7] In 1992, the county government archived four volumes of dastans, totaling 340,000 words.[7]