KULJA (Chinese ILI-Ho), one of the six circuits of the Chinese province of Sinkiang. It is bounded on the west by the Kazakstan republic of the Russian S.F.S.R., and consists of a depression which cuts deeply for some distance eastwards into the great plateau of Central Asia. The snow clad Borokhoro mountains, a north-western extension of the Iren-khabirga moun tains, form its northern boundary and rise to an average altitude of 11,500 ft., with passes at 7,000 to 7,415 ft.; their slopes, be tween 6 and 9,00o ft. are covered with coniferous forest. Along the south, beginning with the glacier-topped Khantengri range in the west, which has an average altitude of 11,500 ft. (highest peak 22,800 ft.) stretches a mountain barrier, the Terskei range (n.b. not the Terskei Ala-tau), the Eshik-bashi, and the Narat ranges. The Narat range forms a diagonal east-north-east to west-south-west link between the northern and southern ranges enclosing the valley; it is crossed by the Jambi pass (11,415 ft.), the Dundeh-keldeh (11,710 ft.), the Sary-tyur (10,80o ft.) and the Mukhurdai (11,80o ft.). Upon the slopes of this range grow deciduous forests (wild apple, apricot, birch and poplar), with pines above. The Temur-lik-tau range extends into Kulja, being over 9,80o ft. high near the western boundary of the province but lower in the east. The Tekes or Upper Ili makes its way through a gap in this range, which continues in a south-westerly direction as far as the Narat range. The province is drained by the Ili river, which rises in the Kazakstan A.S.S.R. south of the Temur-lik-tau and east of Lake Issyk-kul, and flows north-east wards into Chinese Turkistan, receiving many tributaries, the longest of which are the Kok-su and the Jirgalan. It then turns north through a gap in the mountains, after which it receives the Kunghez on its right bank and flows westward to the north of the Temur-lik-tau, receiving the Kash on the right and finally, after a westerly course of 120 m. recrosses the frontier into Kazakstan, where it flows into Lake Balkash. During the summer months it has a good volume of water and is navigable for shallow draught steamboats near the Russian frontier. The valley of the Kunghez is about 120 m. long; the river flows first in a gorge and then amidst thickets of rushes; very little of its valley is avail able for cultivation. The valley of the Tekes or Upper Ili is at first a series of wild gorges, but then broadens out and in this section, there are evidences of irrigation in earlier times. After the junction with the Kunghez, the river flows through a fertile valley, 5o m. wide at Horgos-Koljat, once known as the granary of Western China with black earth soil and loam, and cultivated in dependence on irrigation from the river. The climate is con tinental and extremely dry ; frosts of —22° F and summer heat of I10° F have been recorded. Apricots, peaches, pears and vine are grown, and cotton near the town of Kulja, while barley can be grown up to an altitude of 6,5oo ft. Gold, silver, copper, galena and coal are found, the last within a few miles of the town of Kulja, but they are little worked; the copper and silver mines were at one time extensively exploited. Fertile as the valley is, agriculture is insufficient to supply the needs of the population and grain is imported from Russia. Nomad herdsmen pasture their flocks in the valleys in winter and on the high alpine meadows in summer. The eastern end of the valley has a sandy soil with
gypsum, marl and clay and a scanty flora.
This valley, like the Dzungarian gate to the north, has been a highway of the nations, and was invaded in early times by Scythians and Persians. The Uzuns, a blue-eyed, fair-haired peo ple who are recorded as living in the region in the 2nd and 1st centuries B.c., were driven out by the Huns and some took refuge near Lake Issyk-kul (q.v.). Later the region became a dependency of Dzungaria. The Uighurs and the Kara-Khitai successively occupied it, Jenghiz Khan and his armies swept through it in the 13th century, after which it became a Mongolian khanate. The Oirats (see OIRAT AUTONOMOUS AREA) occupied it from the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century until 1775, when the Chinese annexed it, and practically depopulated it. Chinese cultivators from Kashgaria, military colonists and criminals were then settled in the region. Other tribes, attracted by its fertility, came into the region and in 1771 the Kalmucks from the Volga, (see KALMUCK AUTONOMOUS AREA) reached it after their ter rible 3,00o m. journey through a hostile country. Unsettled con ditions prevailed, but no serious outbreak occurred until after the great Mohammedan rebellion of 1862 which began in the adjacent provinces of Kansu and Shensi and soon spread to the Ili valley, where many thousands of Chinese were massacred and towns and settlements were laid waste. Amongst these was New Kulja, Manchu Kulja or Ili, lower down the valley on the same side of the river as old Kulja. It was previously the seat of the Chinese government, with a large penal establishment and a gar rison, but its 70,000 inhabitants were massacred by the Dungans in 1868 and it is still a heap of ruins. The Dungans and Taranchis formed a Taranchi sultanate, but from 1871 the Russians occu pied the region for I o years, during which they built a large Russian suburb near the town of Kulja. By the treaty of St. Petersburg 1881, the territory was restored to China, together with the command of the Tian Shan passes, though the Chinese had to pay an indemnity to cover the cost of the Russian occupa tion. Before the Chinese revolution of 1911, Ili Ho was prac tically directly dependent on Pekin, but since then it has been under the control of the Governor General of Sinkiang, resident at Urumchi. After the civil wars in Asiatic Russia many of Kolchak's troops and other refugees fled to the region and there was much disorder, mitigated by the tolerance which the Chinese showed to the refugees.
The population is varied. The Taranchis (from taran—millet) were introduced into the region from Kashgaria. (See above.) The Tungans are Chinese Mohammedans, of uncertain origin, though they are supposed to be descended from Mohammedan tribes from the trans-Caspian area who were permitted to settle in Chinese territory in the 8th century in return for military aid given to the Chinese. Like the Taranchis they are settled cul tivators. The Kalmucks and the Kirghiz tribes are nomad herds men. Some Russian colonists have remained since the Russian occupation. Both cultivators and nomads depend mainly on their own craftsmanship for clothing, household utensils, etc., and the district round the town of Kulja is specially noted for the making of leather goods.