The Yining (Ghulja) County is a county within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. It contains an area of 4,580 sq km.
In the 19th century, Yining, which was the commercial center of the region, was sometimes referred to (at least, in Russian sources) as the Old Kulja or the Taranchi Kulja, to distinguish it from the New Kulja or the Chinese Kulja - the apellation attached to Shuiding (then usually transcribed as Suidun), the Chinese fortress and regional administrative center located some 40 km to the northwest (in today's Huocheng County).Yining became the capital of an autonomous district in 1954.
Yining is located on the northern side of the Ili River in the Dzungarian basin, near the border with Kazakhstan, and about 390 km west of Urumqi. The Ili River valley is far wetter than any other part of Xinjiang and has rich grazing land.
Yining is the chief city, agricultural market, and commercial centre of the Ili River valley. It is an old commercial center trading in tea and cattle, and it is still an agricultural area with extensive livestock raising. It has fruit orchards. Iron and coal are mined nearby.
