Urumqi (Uyghur: ئۈرۈمچىشەھىرى), commonly known as Urumqi, formerly known as Dihua, is a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the capital city, a Type I megacity, a second-tier city, and an important central city in Northwestern China and an international trade and commerce center facing Central and West Asia as determined by the State Council. As of 2022, the city has 7 districts and 1 county under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 13,800 square kilometers, a resident population of 4,082,400, and an urbanization rate of 96.5%.
Urumqi is located in northwest China, central Xinjiang, the center of the Asia-Europe continent, the northern foot of the middle section of the Tien Shan Mountains, the southern edge of the Junggar Basin, between longitude 86°37'33"-88°58'24" east and latitude 42°45'32"-45°00'00" north, with a mesothermal continental arid climate, neighboring the Central Asian countries, is the political, economic, cultural, scientific and educational and transportation center of Xinjiang, the world's farthest large city from the sea, the "Heart of Asia", the second Asia-Europe Continental Bridge bridgehead in western China and an important gateway for China's opening up to the west, and is the world's most inland, the farthest from the sea and the coastline of the large city ( 2,500 kilometers).
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty that is set Wuji school lieutenants in Urumqi near the Jinman (Jimusar) set up camps in cantonment, to maintain the security of the northern Silk Road; the Tang Dynasty set up in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains in the period of the Tingzhou; the Qing Dynasty, the 20th year of the Qianlong period (1755), due to the Qing Dynasty garrison in Xinjiang began to develop large-scale, the 28th year of the Qianlong period (1763), the Qing Dynasty Qianlong expansion of the city, renamed Dihua; Dihua for the capital of Xinjiang province in 1884, and has since become the political center of the whole territory; 1959, the Qing Dynasty, the Qing dynasty and the Xinjiang Province. In 1884, Dihua became the capital of Xinjiang Province and from then on became the political center of the whole territory; in 1954, Dihua was renamed Urumqi, which means "beautiful pasture" in Mongolian.
In 2023, Urumqi's GDP will reach 416.846 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%.