History of Aksu

From the Former Han dynasty (125 BCE to 23 CE) at least until the early Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), Aksu was known as Gumo 姑墨 [Ku-mo].^[2][3] The ancient capital town of Nan (“Southern Town”) was likely well south of the present town.

During the Han dynasty, Gumo is described as a “kingdom” (guo) containing 3,500 households and 24,500 individuals, including 4,500 people able to bear arms. It is said to have produced copper, iron and orpiment.^[4] The territory of Gumo was roughly situated in the counties of Baicheng and Wensu and the city of Aksu of nowadays.^[5]

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited this “kingdom” in 629 CE and referred to it as Baluka. He recorded that there were tens of Sarvastivadin Buddhist monasteries in the kingdom and over 1,000 monks. He said the kingdom was 600 li from east to west, and 300 li from north to south. Its capital was said to be six li in circumference. He reported that the “native products, climate, temperament of the people, customs, written language and law are the same as in the country of Kuci or modern Kucha, (some 300 km or 190 mi to the east), but the spoken language is somewhat different [from Kuchean].” He also stated that fine cotton and hemp cloth made in the area was traded in neighbouring countries.^[6]

In the 7th, 8th, and early 9th centuries, control of the entire region was often contested by the Chinese Tang dynasty, the Tibetan Empire, and the Uyghur Empire; cities frequently changed hands. Tibet seized Aksu in 670, but Tang forces reconquered the region in 692.

Tang dynasty Chinese General Tang Jiahui led the Chinese to defeat an Arab-Tibetan attack in the Battle of Aksu (717).^[7] The attack on Aksu was joined by Turgesh Khan Suluk.^[8][9] Both Uch Turfan and Aksu were attacked by the Turgesh, Arab, and Tibetan force on 15 August 717. Qarluqs serving under Chinese command, under Arsila Xian, a Western Turkic Qaghan serving under the Chinese Assistant Grand Protector General Tang Jiahui defeated the attack. Al-Yashkuri, the Arab commander and his army fled to Tashkent after they were defeated.^[10][11]

Tibet regained the Tarim Basin in the late 720s, and the Tang dynasty again annexed the region in the 740s. The Battle of Talas led to the gradual withdrawal of Chinese forces, and the region was then contested between the Uyghurs and Tibetans.

Aksu was positioned on a junction of trade routes: the northern-Tarim route Silk road, and the dangerous route north via the Tian Shan’s Muzart Pass to the fertile Ili River valley.^[12]

In 1207–08, they submitted to Genghis Khan. Around 1220, Aksu became the capital of the Kingdom of Mangalai. The area had been part of the whole Mongol Empirebefore it was occupied by the independent-minded Chagatai Khanate under the House of Ogedei in 1286 from the hands of Kublai’s Yuan Dynasty. After the decline of the Yuan Dynasty in the mid-14th century and subsequently the Chagatai Khanate in the late 14th century, Aksu fell under the power of Turkic and Mongol warlords.

Along with most of Xinjiang, Aksu fell under the control of the Khojas, and later that of Yaqub Beg, during the Dungan Rebellion of 1864–1877. Yakub Beg seized Aksu from Chinese Muslim forces.^[13] After the defeat of the rebellion, a learned cleric named Musa Sayrami (1836–1917), who had occupied positions of importance in Aksu under both rebel regimes, authored Tārīkh-i amniyya (History of Peace), which is considered by modern historians as one of the most important historical sources on the period.^[14]

British Army officer Francis Younghusband visited Aksu in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to India. He described it as being the largest town he had seen on his way from the Chinese capital, with a population of about 20,000, besides other inhabitants of the district and a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers. “There were large bazaars and several inns—some for travellers, others for merchants wishing to make a prolonged stay to sell goods.”^[15]

The Battle of Aksu occurred here on May 31, 1933.^[16] Isma’il Beg, a Uighur, became the rebel Tao-yin of Aksu.^[17] After the outbreak of the Ili Rebellion, the Ili National Army forces led by Abdulkerim Abbas attempting to take Aksu were repelled by National Revolutionary Army defenders commanded by Zhao Hanqi after two bitter sieges in September 1945.

Aksu was the site of a bombing in 2010.