Kuqa (Kucha) is in Uyghur and Kuche in Chinese. It is the biggest county of Aksu Prefecture which is consists of 9 towns,and 6 townships. It is located east of Aksu Prefecture, north of Tarim Basin, and to the central part of Tianshan Mountain.
It’s total covered an area is 14,528.74 square kilometres, and total population of 405,894 (2003) people living in Kuqa which is consist of 14 ethnic groups ( Uyghur, Han, Hui, Kirgiz, Kazak, Mongolian, Russia, Xibe, Man, Uzbekis, and est).
History
Today’s Kuqa is the place where the ancient Qiuci Kingdom took place. Qiuci is the one of the36 kingdoms in Western Region. It is located on the middle Silk Road route where the ancient Caravan’s exchanged their goods with the local merchants on their way. Kuqa was an important centre for Buddhism on the ancient Silk Road. Monks adhered to Hinayana Buddhism which can seen obviously in Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves, Kumutura Buddha Caves and est. There is also evidence that Mahayana Buddhism popular here. Evidence also showed that Buddhism was exist in Kuqa in 3rd century.
Transportation
Kuqa is 751 KM to Urumqi, 258 KM to Aksu, 280 Korla, 921 to Ili.
Kucha Weather
Kuqa belongs to continental arid climate, winter is cold and dry, and summer is hot. The temperature difference between day and night is big, the average annual temperature is 11.4 ℃, and annual precipitation is 65 mm.
| Kucha Yearly Average Temperature by Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Average Maximum Temperature (ºC) | -1.4 | 4.4 | 12.6 | 21.4 | 26.8 | 30.2 | 32.0 | 31.0 | 26.4 | 18.9 | 9.0 | 0.5 |
| Average Temperature(ºC) | -7.1 | -1.4 | 6.9 | 15.2 | 20.3 | 23.5 | 25.3 | 24.2 | 19.4 | 11.5 | 2.8 | -5.0 |
| Average Minimum Temperature (ºC) | -12.0 | -6.3 | 1.6 | 9.2 | 14.0 | 16.9 | 18.7 | 17.5 | 12.8 | 5.4 | -2.1 | -9.4 |
| Rainfall (mm) | 1.8 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 8.7 | 18.1 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 7.0 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
Kucha Attractions
Kucha Map