Khorgos (from ; ), officially known as KorgasThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, SinoMaps Press 1997); (Kazakh: ; ), is a county-level city in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It straddles the country's border with Kazakhstan; on the Kazakh side of the border is a city also named Horgos in Russian and Korgas in Kazakh.
Khorgos area is a hub of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, 200 km from the Alataw Pass, the historically important Dzungarian Gate, with a cross-border visa-free special economic zone for trade and shopping (ICBC), a dry port for transporting goods and two new cities, one on either side of the border.
History In 1851, the Russian Empire signed an agreement with Qing China to have Khorgos and Tacheng opened as port of entries along the Qing-Russian border.
In 1977, the 61st Regiment Farm fire in Khorgos killed 694 and injured 161. It is one of the worst human-made disasters in China by death toll.
Transportation The Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway was completed in late 2009 and as of 2012 provides train service from Ürümqi and Yining to Khorgos.
Passenger trains from Ürümqi started on 1 July 2010; however, they initially only ran to Yining and not all the way to Khorgos. In December 2013, one of the daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgos. The travel time from Khorgos to Yining then was just over an hour.霍尔果斯往乌鲁木齐方向首趟客运列车正式开通 (The first Korgas-Ürümqi passenger train started regular operations), 26 December 2013
In December 2011, a railway from the Khorgos border crossing to Zhetygen terminal (near Almaty) was completed; on 2 December 2012, the tracks from the Chinese and Kazakhstan sides of the borders were connected.写在中国霍尔果斯至哈萨克斯坦阿腾科里铁路通车运营之际, 23 December 2012 For some months, the railway on the Kazakh side was still operating in a test mode.Хоргос-Жетыген: уже летом первые поезда соединят Китай с Европой (Already this summer first trains will connect China with Europe), 16 March 2012 The railway border crossing (port of entry) at Khorgos became operational in the late 2012;新疆霍尔果斯火车站获批成立 年底有望通车 , 中国新闻网, 23 November 2012 the first regular trains from the two countries crossed the border on 22 December 2012. Thus, Khorgos, an international dry port, connects land-locked Kazakhstan to the sea port of Lianyungang in China.Vakulchuk, Roman and Indra Overland (2019) "China's Belt and Road Initiative through the Lens of Central Asia", in Fanny M. Cheung and Ying-yi Hong (eds) Regional Connection under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Prospects for Economic and Financial Cooperation. London: Routledge, pp. 119.
The railway border crossing is expected to handle up to 15 million tons of freight per year initially, the volume rising to 30 million tons per year in the long run, opening up the second Europe-China rail link via Kazakhstan.Revival of the Silk Road
Khorgos is a major break of gauge interchange. 41-ton gantry cranes are used to move shipping containers between standard gauge Chinese trains and Russian gauge Kazakh trains, connecting to Altynkol railway station on a spur line of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.
In June 2017, the Ürümqi Railway Bureau of the China Railway started daily passenger service from Ürümqi to Astana via Khorgos.今夏可坐火车去哈萨克斯坦游玩 (This summer, one can visit Kazakhstan by train)
Economy
As of at least 2024, Khorgos is the second-largest dry port in the world.
In 2017, Boshihao Electronics, a robot manufacturing company, moved production from Shenzhen to Khorgos.
Climate
Administrative divisions Khorgos is divided into 4 subdistricts, 1 ethnic township, and 2 township-equivalent regions.
Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Uyghur (UEY) Uyghur Latin (ULY) Kazakh (Arabic script) Kazakh (Cyrillic script) Administrative division code NotesSubdistricts Qarasu Subdistrict 654004001 Ya-Ou East Road Subdistrict 654004002 Ya-Ou West Road Subdistrict 654004003 Industrial Park Subdistrict 654004004 Ethnic township Ichëgashen Township(Ichëgashen Sibe Ethnic Township) () () 654004200 (Xibe)
Others: 61st Regiment Farm (六十一团) 62nd Regiment Farm (六十二团)
See also Transport in China Transport in Kazakhstan Railway stations in Kazakhstan Nurkent
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