Ürümqi
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| Ürümqi | |
|---|---|
| 乌鲁木齐市 | |
| Prefecture-level city | |
| General | |
| Coordinates | 43.82, 87.61 |
| Country | China |
| Region | Northwest China |
| Province/State | Xinjiang |
| Demographics | |
| Population(2020 census) | |
| Total | 4,054,369 |
| Geography | |
| Area | |
| Total | 13,800 km² |
| Highest elevation | 5,400 m |
| Lowest elevation | 450 m |
| Cannabis documentation | |
| Growing regions | 0 |
| Growing areas | 0 |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Eradication campaigns | 1 |
| News items | 2 |
| Research items | 0 |
Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐, Wūlǔmùqí) is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The municipality has seven districts and one county and covers about 13,800 km².[1] The 2020 census counted 4,054,369 residents, 15.68 per cent of the population of Xinjiang.[2] Qing garrisons built and enlarged the walls of the present city between 1758 and 1763. The Qianlong Emperor named it Dihua (迪化). Dihua became the provincial capital when Xinjiang was made a province in 1884. The name Ürümqi was restored in 1954.[3]
In June 1946 the Nationalist chairman of Xinjiang publicly burned confiscated opium and máyān (麻烟), cannabis prepared for smoking, in the city.[4] Police in Ürümqi found 4,848 kg of cannabis resin hidden in a shipment of fibreboard in October 2007.[5] In 2026 police cleared more than 200,000 wild plants from hillsides in Midong district and smaller stands beside roads and inside housing estates in the city.[6][7][8]
Geography
Ürümqi lies at the northern foot of the central Tian Shan, on the southern edge of the Junggar Basin.[9] Hills enclose it on the east, south and west. Bogda Peak, the main peak of the eastern Tian Shan, rises to the east. The ground is higher in the south-east and lower in the north-west. The Ürümqi River crosses the city from south to north.[10] Elevations within the municipality run from 450 to 5,400 m. It measures 190 km from east to west and 153 km from north to south.[10] Midong district occupies the north of the municipality.[11] In 2026 a stand of more than 200,000 wild plants was cleared from its hillsides around Baiyanghe.[6]
Administrative subdivisions
The municipality comprises seven districts and one county. The districts are Tianshan (天山区), Saybag (沙依巴克区), Xinshi (新市区), Shuimogou (水磨沟区), Toutunhe (头屯河区), Dabancheng (达坂城区) and Midong (米东区); the county is Ürümqi County (乌鲁木齐县).[1] Xinshi district is paired with the Ürümqi High-tech Industrial Development Zone (高新区, Gāoxīn qū) and Toutunhe district with the Ürümqi Economic and Technological Development Zone.[10]
Ürümqi County descends from Dihua County (迪化县), set up in 1886 and renamed in February 1954.[12] The State Council Information Office's white paper of 2003 on Xinjiang lists the change from Dihua to Ürümqi among the insulting names, place names included, that the regional government abolished by administrative order after 1949.[13] Midong district was formed in June 2007, with State Council approval, by merging Miquan City, then in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, with Ürümqi's Dongshan district. Its name joins the first characters of the two names, 米泉 and 东山.[11]
No districts documented yet.
Demographics
Population
The 2020 census counted 4,054,369 people in Ürümqi, 15.68 per cent of the resident population of Xinjiang. At the 2010 census the city's share had been 14.27 per cent.[2]
Cannabis in Ürümqi
History
Nikolai Vavilov's expedition of 1929 through Xinjiang with M. G. Popov passed through Ürümqi among stops that included Kashgar, Yarkand and Hotan.[14]: 157
In 1945 Zhang Zhizhong, the Nationalist chairman of Xinjiang, began a campaign against opium and máyān. In June 1946 he publicly burned confiscated opium, máyān and smoking utensils in Ürümqi. Zhou Limin judges that the smoking of máyān was still a serious problem afterwards.[4] The city was still named Dihua at the time.[3]
Cultivation
Police in Midong district reported on 1 July 2026 that a patrol of the district's hills, waste ground and slopes had found a continuous stand of more than 200,000 wild plants on the hillsides around Baiyanghe (柏杨河), which was cleared. Police publicity on the clearance stated that letting wild plants grow, like planting them, is against the law. It named green belts, vacant lots and the corners of factory grounds among the places where wild cannabis spreads.[6]
Smaller stands were cleared inside the city in May 2026. On 21 May a community police officer in Xinshi district found plants growing beside the road at the south gate of a housing estate on Xincheng Lane. Once they had been identified as wild cannabis, 349 plants were pulled up by the roots.[7] On 26 May the Hongmiaozi Street police station in Saybag district cleared more than 100 plants inside a housing estate after a resident reported them. The same day officers of the Hetian Street station cleared a whole stand they had found on patrol.[8]
Preparations and consumption
In 1998 a survey of people held over four months in compulsory drug rehabilitation in the Ürümqi area found all 1,281 of them to be heroin users. Of these, 86.26 per cent were men and 25.21 per cent also smoked cannabis.[15]
Trade and commerce
On 5 November 1993 the security checkpoint at Ürümqi airport seized 1.4 kg of máyān.[15] Writing in 2015, Hu Hongxing, Zhang Guanbai and Hao Wei linked the growth of drug smuggling into Xinjiang to rising output in the Golden Crescent. Police in the region solved 26 Golden Crescent drug cases from 2005 to 2007 and seized 125 kg of heroin, 4.8 tonnes of cannabis and 1.07 tonnes of acetic anhydride. The three authors called Ürümqi a transit point, a distribution centre and a destination for drugs entering the region.[15]
On 29 and 30 October 2007 police searched a warehouse at a freight yard in the southern suburbs of Ürümqi. In 310 fibreboard panels they found 4,848 kg of cannabis resin and 67.5 kg of heroin, shipped by container from Afghanistan through Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Alashankou. The regional narcotics police called it the largest single seizure since China's "people's war" (人民战争) on drugs began.[5]
On 21 March 2024 the drug squad of the Xinshi district police arrested three people at a deal in a housing estate in Tianshan district and seized 116.93 g of cannabis. A further 6,282.87 g was found at the seller's home, 6,399.8 g in all.[16] Two of the ten major drug cases of 2024 announced by the Xinjiang police in June 2025 were run by the Ürümqi drug squad. In the first, a network that bought chemicals and equipment in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian and Sichuan to make drugs in Xinjiang was investigated from January 2023 for two years; 105 people were arrested or dealt with and 15.98 kg of new psychoactive substances and cannabis were seized. In the second, a man travelling repeatedly between Islamabad and Ürümqi led police in August 2023 to a cross-border smuggling network. Arrests followed in Ürümqi, Hotan, Yining and the Kashgar area: 63 people were arrested or dealt with and 32.315 kg of a paste containing cannabis was seized.[17]
Ürümqi Tianshan Airport Customs twice found cannabis seed in inbound parcels declared as toys and holding assembled building bricks. It reported 32 seeds in January 2026[18] and seven seeds, in a parcel from the United Kingdom, in August 2026.[19]
Legal status
Cannabis is controlled under national law, which has named it among the narcotic drugs since the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of 28 December 1990 (see Cannabis law in China).[20] Xinjiang's regulations of 1991, as amended in 1997, required local governments and village committees to organise the prompt eradication of wild plants.[21]
On 1 July 2024 the Ürümqi Intermediate People's Court sentenced a man from Hami to eight months' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 yuan for smuggling drugs. In 2023 he had twice bought cannabis from a seller in Thailand through a messaging app and had it posted to Xinjiang: 100 g of leaf in March, then 30 g of paste and ten blocks in May. He was caught on 31 May 2023 while collecting the second parcel, which held 30.81 g of paste and 371.79 g of blocks.[22]
Growing Areas
No growing areas documented yet.
Accessions
David Hummel gathered five sheets in the Bogda Shan, the range on the eastern boundary of the municipality,[10] between June and August 1928 that the Swedish Museum of Natural History catalogues under Cannabis: 164, 679, 874, 908 and 909.[23][24][25][26][27]
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "市情" [About the city]. 乌鲁木齐市人民政府 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "新疆维吾尔自治区第七次全国人口普查主要数据" [Main data of the seventh national census of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region] (in 中文). 新疆维吾尔自治区统计局. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 王宝君 (24 April 2015). 乌鲁木齐 打造“丝路”核心区 [Ürümqi builds a core zone of the Silk Road]. 人民日报海外版 (in 中文). p. 6. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Zhou, Limin (2015). 我国大麻滥用的历史和现状 [History and current state of cannabis abuse in China]. 中国药物依赖性杂志 [Chinese Journal of Drug Dependence] (in 中文) (5): 327–331. ISSN 1007-9718. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via 杜新忠戒毒网.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 毛咏 (1 June 2008). "新疆警方破获多起跨国贩毒案记事" [An account of transnational drug-trafficking cases solved by the Xinjiang police] (in 中文). 新华网. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via 杜新忠戒毒网.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "乌鲁木齐20万株野生大麻被铲除！绿化带竟藏"毒隐患"？这个知识要了解→" [200,000 wild cannabis plants eradicated in Ürümqi]. 南方网 (in 中文). 1 July 2026. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "路边惊现野生大麻 民警及时铲除隐患" [Wild cannabis found by a roadside and cleared by police]. 中国日报网 (in 中文). 24 May 2026. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 单坤 (26 May 2026). "发现一处铲除一处！乌市公安全力清除野生大麻" [Ürümqi police clear wild cannabis wherever they find it]. 新疆法治报 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via 石榴云.
- ↑ "新疆是个好地方——乌鲁木齐" [Xinjiang is a good place: Ürümqi]. 新华网新疆频道 (in 中文). 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 乌鲁木齐市水土保持规划（2018–2030年）修编 [Ürümqi soil and water conservation plan, 2018–2030, revised] (PDF) (consultation draft) (in 中文). 乌鲁木齐市水利勘测设计院有限责任公司. July 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via 乌鲁木齐市人民政府.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "开拓奋进七十年 成就辉煌看今朝：新中国成立70年米东区国民经济和社会发展成就综述" [Seventy years of progress: the economic and social development of Midong district since 1949]. 乌鲁木齐市人民政府 (in 中文). 乌鲁木齐市统计局. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "乌县概况" [Overview of Ürümqi County]. 乌鲁木齐县人民政府 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 国务院新闻办公室 (May 2003). "新疆的历史和发展" [History and Development of Xinjiang]. 国家民族事务委员会 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ Loskutov, Igor G. (1999). Vavilov and his Institute: a history of the world collection of plant genetic resources in Russia. Rome: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. ISBN 92-9043-412-0.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Hu, Hongxing; Zhang, Guanbai; Hao, Wei (2015). 中国新疆大麻使用及相关问题的历史与现状 [History and current status of cannabis use and related problems in Xinjiang, China]. 中国药物依赖性杂志 [Chinese Journal of Drug Dependence] (in 中文) (4): 241–243, 287. ISSN 1007-9718. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via 杜新忠戒毒网.
- ↑ "缴获大麻6.39公斤！新疆乌鲁木齐警方破获一起贩卖毒品大麻案件" [6.39 kg of cannabis seized: Ürümqi police break a cannabis-dealing case]. 澎湃新闻 (in 中文). 27 March 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ 隋云雁 (23 June 2025). "新疆警方公布2024年度全区十大毒品案件" [Xinjiang police announce the region's ten major drug cases of 2024]. 新疆日报 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via 新疆平安网.
- ↑ 吕永胜 (30 January 2026). "乌鲁木齐海关查获大麻种子32粒" [Ürümqi Customs seizes 32 cannabis seeds]. 中新网新疆 (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "乌鲁木齐天山机场海关查获印度大麻种子" [Ürümqi Tianshan Airport Customs seizes cannabis seeds]. 中国国门时报 (in 中文). 5 August 2026. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via 乌鲁木齐海关.
- ↑ "全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于禁毒的决定" [Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the Prohibition of Narcotic Drugs]. 全国人民代表大会常务委员会公报 [Gazette of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress] (in 中文). 全国人民代表大会. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ 新疆维吾尔自治区人民代表大会常务委员会 (2 November 1991). "新疆维吾尔自治区禁止大麻毒品条例" [Regulations of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on the Prohibition of Cannabis Drugs] (as amended 11 December 1997) (in 中文). Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via Wikisource.
- ↑ 新疆维吾尔自治区乌鲁木齐市中级人民法院 (1 July 2024). "新疆维吾尔自治区乌鲁木齐市中级人民法院（2024）新01刑初19号刑事判决书" [Criminal judgment (2024) Xin 01 Xing Chu no. 19 of the Ürümqi Intermediate People's Court] (in 中文). Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via Wikisource.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1095994960: Cannabis L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1095994957: Cannabis L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1095994974: Cannabis L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1095994991: Cannabis L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1096610883: Cannabis L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 13 October 2026.