Baicheng County

Baicheng County as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Bay County  (pronounced like 'bye',, ; ), is a county in Aksu Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.

History
In 1882, the county was established.

On 6 November 1997, a member of a Xinjiang separatist group, Muhammat Tursun, fatally shot imam Yunus Sidiq Damolla at his mosque in Baicheng County.

According to a report from Radio Free Asia, on February 17, 2015, seventeen Uyghurs (four policemen, nine attackers and four bystanders) were killed after a stabbing incident 150 m from a police station in the county.

On September 18, 2015, a group of terrorists, suspected to be Uyghurs, attacked workers and security guards at the Sogan Colliery in Terek, leaving at up to 50 dead and 50 wounded. A manhunt for the suspects concluded on November 13, with 28 suspects killed and 1 surrendering. In interview with Radio Free Asia, county police officers confirmed that women and children were among those killed in November.

On December 5, 2019 at around 10:46 a.m., a 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck the county (epicenter: 41.73°N, 81.65°W).

Geography
The county is located in the northern part of the prefecture, occupying the valley of the Muzart River between the southern slopes of the Tengritagh and the Qoltagh.

Administrative divisions
Baicheng County administered 4 towns and 10 townships

Economy
The county's economy is based on agriculture and produces rapeseed in abundance. Animal husbandry is also common. Mineral resources are rich. Industries include coal, iron, electronics, fertilizer, tractors, vegetable oil extraction, etc. The Tianshan Mountains have lush spruce forests.

, there was about 67,500 acres (445,577 mu) of cultivated land in Bay.

Demographics
As of 2015, 212,272 of the 241,079 residents of the county were Uyghur, 26,559 were Han Chinese and 2,248 were from other ethnic groups.

As of 1999, 87.03% of the population of the county were Uyghur and 12.08% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

 * China National Highway 217

Historical maps
Historical English-language maps including the county: