Country China Area 5,266 km² Province Xinjiang | Time zone China Standard (UTC+8) Local time Tuesday 11:03 AM University Tarim University | |
 | ||
Weather 0°C, Wind E at 3 km/h, 68% Humidity | ||
Aral, Ala'er or Alar (simplified Chinese: 阿拉尔; traditional Chinese: 阿拉爾; pinyin: Ālā'ěr; Uyghur: ئارال, Арал, ULY: Aral) is a sub-prefecture-level city surrounded by Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in China. Aral in Uighur means "island." Official spelling is 'Aral' but it is often written as 'Alar'.
Contents
Map of Aral, Xinjiang, China
History
The city was created by the Xinjiang production and Construction Corp as a means of emigration of Han Chinese to the region. Aral was opened as its own city in 2002 and thus saw a steady increase of population, reaching 166,205 in 2010.
Education
This city is also the location of Tarim University.
Geography
The city is officially 5,258.739 square kilometers. It is bordered by mountainous regions to the north and northwest and the Taklamakhan desert to the east and south.