Jimsar County

Jimsar County is a county in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It contains an area of . According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 130,000. Near the town of Jimsar are the ruins of the ancient city of Beiting or Ting Prefecture, the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century. It was later known as Beshbalik and became one of the capitals of the Uyghur Khaganate and then the Kingdom of Qocho. History The name Beshbalik first appears in history in the description of the events of 713 in the Turkic Kul Tigin inscription. It was one of the largest of five towns in the Uyghur Khaganate. The Tibetans briefly held the city in 790. Established in 1902 as a county, it was known as Fuyuan (孚远) until 1952, when its name was changed to Jimsar. The modern city Jimsar is located at 43°59'N, 89°4'East; It is a location of the Uyghur ancient southern capital Beshbalik or Beshbalyq. "Balıq" means city in Old Turkic language, so the meaning of Beshbalik/Beshbalyq is "Five cities". This city name appeared in Yuan dynasty record as both 五城(Wǔ Chéng, means 5 cities) or 别失八里(bié shī bā lǐ). It became the Uyghur main capital after a disastrous results of the Yenisei Kirghiz attack on the Uyghur northern capital Karabalgasun (Khanbalyk).