Minfeng Town

Minfeng
泥雅 · نىيە
County-level city

Monument in downtown Minfeng
Minfeng

Location in Xinjiang

Coordinates: 37°03′N 82°41′E / 37.050°N 82.683°E / 37.050; 82.683Coordinates: 37°03′N 82°41′E / 37.050°N 82.683°E / 37.050; 82.683
Country People's Republic of China
County Minfeng
Elevation 1,405 m (4,610 ft)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code 848500
Website hts.gov.cn
Mao meets Uighur farmer, Minfeng
Old and new Mosques in Minfeng. 2011

Niya (Chinese: 泥雅; pinyin: Níyǎ, Uighur:نىيە, Нийа), is a town in Minfeng County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

It is the county seat of Minfeng County, and therefore is commonly referred to as Minfeng, and is labeled so on less detailed maps. An ancient town also called Niya is located 115 km to the north of this modern Niya.

Geography

Niya is located on China National Highway 315, which is the main Ruoqiang-Hotan road along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin.

It is situated 120 km east of Keriya, and about 330 km west of Qiemo (Cherchen). Human habitation in the area is possible because of the Niya River, fed by the snows and glaciers of the Kunlun.

Niya is a small town of about 10,000 people with a small market, shops, many restaurants, and a hotel.

History

Niya/Minfeng was known in ancient time as Ronglu (戎盧) during the Han dynasties (206 BC - 222 AD)[1] and, according to the Hanshu Chapter 96A, was said to have had "240 households, 610 individuals with 300 persons able to bear arms" during the Former Han Dynasty (206 BC - 23 AD).[2] It is situated about 115 km north of the modern town of Minfeng. Numerous Buddhist scriptures, sculptures, mummies and other precious archeological finds have been made in the region. The remains of more than seventy buildings have been discovered scattered over an area of some 45 km2. It was located on the southern branch of the Silk Road.[3]

Footnotes

  1. Hill (2015) Vol. I, p. 82, n. 1.12.
  2. Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden. ISBN 90-04-05884-2; p. 92.
  3. Baumer, Christoph. Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin. Christoph Baumer. 2000. Bangkok. White Orchid Books, p. 100.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.