Aksai Chin

English

A map of Aksai Chin (the largest/northernmost of the areas in red).

Alternative forms

• Aksai-chin
• (lake) Aksayqin

Etymology

First attested in the mid 1800s. Various origins have been proposed, see Aksai Chin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑːksaɪ ˈtʃɪn/

Proper noun

Aksai Chin

1. A cold desert plain in Central Asia divided between China and India
   • 1868, Albert M. Verchere, “Kashmir, the Western Himalaya and the Afghan Mountains”, in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal‎^[1], volume XXXVI, →OCLC, page 111:

     The bed is not limited to the belt of country situated between Ser and Mer (Snowy Peak Range) chain and the Kailas chain. It is well developed in Rodok, near the Pang Chong Lake and up to the foot of the Korakoram chain, and it is very probable that the great Desert of Aksai Chin is a similar bed.

   • 1874, Keith Johnston, The Surface Zones of the Globe‎^[2], W. & A. K. Johnston, →OCLC, page 37:

     In the basin which lies immediately eastward of the valley of the head stream of the Indus, is the Aksai Chin, or White desert, concerning which, however, little more is known to Europeans than the name.

   • [1904, M. A. Stein, A Journey of Geographical and Archaeological Exploration in Chinese Turkestan (Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1903)‎^[3], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 759:

     In a grand mountain mass raising its glacier-crowned head in solitary splendor to the southeast, it was impossible to mistake the "Kuen-luen peak, No. 5," already triangulated from the Ladak side (pl. II). Behind this great mountain, for which the tables supplied by the survey department indicated a height of 23,890 feet, to the south and southeast there was to be seen a magnificent line of high snowy peaks marking the watershed toward the westernmost portion of the Aksai-chin plateau of Tibet.]

   • 1964, Alastair Lamb, The China-India Border‎^[4], Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 7:

     In this sector there are really two quite distinct disputes. The first is the issue of Aksai Chin, the desolate high wastes of the extreme north-east of Kashmir, across which the Chinese have built a motor road linking western Tibet with Sinkiang....The bulk of the contested area lies in the Aksai Chin region. South of the Panggong lake there are a number of contested points, near Chushul and at Demchok on the Indus for example. The Changchenmo serves as a connecting region between the Chinese claims in Aksai Chin and those south of Panggong lake.

   1. One of the two parts of the Kashmir region administered by the People's Republic of China. The rest of Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India.
      • 1972, Theodore Shabad, China's Changing Map‎^[5], New York: Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7:

        In the western sector, the Chinese-Indian frontier dispute involves mainly the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh. Long limited to conflicting cartographic claims, the Aksai Chin issue flared in the 1950’s when the Chinese encroached on the area and upgraded a traditional caravan route between Sinkiang and Tibet across the Aksai Chin to a motor road, inaugurated in 1957. The Chinese were shown to be in actual control of Aksai Chin in the late 1950’s, and they retained control after the brief Indian-Chinese border war of November, 1962.

      • 2011, Henry Kissinger, On China‎^[6], New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 186:

        When India proclaimed its independence from Britain, it did not proclaim its independence from British territorial claims. It included the Aksai Chin territory as well as the line demarcated by McMahon on all of its maps.

      • 2021 March, Freddie Wilkinson, “A Line in the Mountains”, in National Geographic‎^[7], page 112:

        Then in 1962, Chinese forces seized the Aksai Chin, a high desert region in the eastern corner of Kashmir, which further muddled the border question.

2. A lake in Hotan County, Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang, China, part of the disputed Aksai Chin.
   • [1922, Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet‎^[8], Stockholm, →OCLC, page 5:

     This pass is described as situated in the Kisil-korum Range, which is a branch from the Kara-tagh Range. The next day they arrived at the great lake Aksáe Chin, 16,620 feet, although I cannot make out what particular lake he means.]

   • 1930 June, Emil Trinkler, “Explorations in the Eastern Karkoram and in the Western Kunlun”, in The Geographical Journal, volume LXXV, number 6, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 510:

     On the southern shore of the Aksai Chin lake we left our big luggage behind us in a depot. Our next goal was the Khitai Dawan, whence we could reach the Upper Kara-Kash. Leaving Sir Aurel Stein’s route of 1908 to the north, we crossed the brown mountains separating the Aksai Chin lake from the salt marshes in the west, which had been seen by Johnson in 1865.

Translations

part of Kashmir administered by China

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿克賽欽 / 阿克赛钦 (zh) (Ākèsàiqīn)

• Hindi: अक्साई चिन (aksāī cin)
• Japanese: アクサイチン (Akusai Chin)
• Portuguese: Aksai Chin m
• Russian: Аксайчи́н (Aksajčín)
• Spanish: Aksai Chin
• Urdu: اکسائی چن (aksāī cin)
• Uyghur: ئاقساي چىن (aqsay chin)

See also

• Ladakh

Further reading

• Aksai Chin, Aksai-chin, Aksayqin at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• “Aksai Chin, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (2008), “Aksai Chin”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[9], 2nd edition, volume 1, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1

Portuguese

Proper noun

Aksai Chin m

1. Aksai Chin (a macroregion of Kashmir, governed by China)