| Khorgos | |
| Native Name: | |
| Other Name: | Korgas, Khorgas, Horgos |
| Settlement Type: | County-level city |
| Pushpin Map: | China Xinjiang Northern#Xinjiang#China |
| Pushpin Relief: | yes |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Xinjiang |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | China |
| Subdivision Type1: | Autonomous region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Xinjiang |
| Subdivision Type2: | Autonomous prefecture |
| Subdivision Name2: | Ili |
| Seat Type: | Municipal seat |
| Seat: | Qarasu Subdistrict |
| Unit Pref: | metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 1,675 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 71,466 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | China Standard Time |
| Utc Offset: | +8 |
| Coordinates: | 44.2125°N 80.4097°W |
| Order: | st |
| S: | 霍尔果斯市 |
| T: | 霍爾果斯市 |
| P: | Huò'ěrguǒsī shì |
| Uig: | قورغاس شەھىرى |
| Uly: | Qorghas shehiri |
| Usy: | қорғас шәһири |
| Rus: | Хоргос |
| Rusr: | Khorgos |
| Lang1: | kk |
| Lang1 Content: | Kazakh: قورعاس قالاسى Kazakh: Қорғас қаласы Kazakh: Qorğas qalası |
Khorgos (from Russian: Хоргос), officially known as Korgas[2] (from Kazakh: Kazakh: قورعاس), is a county-level city in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It straddles the country's border with Kazakhstan;[3] on the Kazakh side of the border is a city also named Horgos in Russian and Korgas in Kazakh.
Khorgos area is a hub of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, 200 km from the Alataw Pass, the historically important Dzungarian Gate, with a cross-border visa-free special economic zone for trade and shopping (ICBC), a dry port for transporting goods and two new cities, one on either side of the border.[4] [5]
In 1851, the Russian Empire signed an agreement with Qing China to have Khorgos and Tacheng opened as port of entries along the Qing-Russian border.[6]
In 1977, the 61st Regiment Farm fire in Khorgos killed 694 and injured 161.[7] [8] It is one of the worst human-made disasters in China by death toll.
The Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway was completed in late 2009 and as of 2012 provides train service from Ürümqi and Yining to Khorgos.[9]
Passenger trains from Ürümqi started on July 1, 2010; however, they initially only ran to Yining and not all the way to Khorgos.[10] [11] In December 2013, one of the daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgos. The travel time from Khorgos to Yining then was just over an hour.[12]
In December 2011, a 293km (182miles) railway from the Khorgos border crossing to Zhetygen terminal (near Almaty) was completed; on December 2, 2012, the tracks from the Chinese and Kazakhstan sides of the borders were connected.[13] For some months, the railway on the Kazakh side was still operating in a test mode.[14] The railway border crossing (port of entry) at Khorgos became operational in the late 2012;[15]) the first regular trains from the two countries crossed the border on December 22, 2012.[13] Thus, Khorgos, an international dry port, connects land-locked Kazakhstan to the sea port of Lianyungang in China.[16]
The railway border crossing is expected to handle up to 15 million tons of freight per year initially, the volume rising to 30 million tons per year in the long run,[13] opening up the second Europe-China rail link via Kazakhstan.[17]
Khorgos is a major break of gauge interchange. 41-ton gantry cranes are used to move shipping containers between standard gauge Chinese trains and Russian gauge Kazakh trains, connecting to Altynkol railway station on a spur line of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.
In June 2017, the Ürümqi Railway Bureau of the China Railway started daily passenger service from Ürümqi to Astana via Khorgos.[18]
As of at least 2024, Khorgos is the second-largest dry port in the world.[19]
In 2017, Boshihao Electronics, a robot manufacturing company, moved production from Shenzhen to Khorgos.[20]
Khorgos is divided into 4 subdistricts, 1 ethnic township, and 2 township-equivalent regions.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Uyghur (UEY) | Uyghur Latin (ULY) | Kazakh (Arabic script) | Kazakh (Cyrillic script) | Administrative division code | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subdistricts | ||||||||
| Qarasu Subdistrict | Chinese: 卡拉苏街道 | Uighur; Uyghur: قاراسۇ كوچا باشقارمىسى | Kazakh: قاراسۋ ءمالى باسقارماسى | 654004001 | ||||
| Ya-Ou East Road Subdistrict | Chinese: 亚欧东路街道 | Uighur; Uyghur: ياۋروئاسىيا شەرقىي يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى | Kazakh: ەۆرو-ازيا شىعىس جولى ءمالى باسقارماسى | 654004002 | ||||
| Ya-Ou West Road Subdistrict | Chinese: 亚欧西路街道 | Uighur; Uyghur: ياۋروئاسىيا غەربىي يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى | Kazakh: ەۆرو-ازيا باتىس جولى ءمالى باسقارماسى | 654004003 | ||||
| Industrial Park Subdistrict | Chinese: 工业园区街道 | Uighur; Uyghur: سانائەت رايونى كوچا باشقارمىسى | Kazakh: ونەركاسىپتىك اۋدان ءمالى باسقارماسى | 654004004 | ||||
| Ethnic township | ||||||||
| Ichëgashen Township (Ichëgashen Sibe Ethnic Township) | Chinese: 伊车嘎善乡 (Chinese: 伊车嘎善锡伯族乡) | Uighur; Uyghur: ئىچېگاشەن شىبە يېزىسى | Kazakh: يچىگاشان سىبە ۇلتتىق اۋىلى | 654004200 | (Xibe) | |||
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