China's largest autonomous prefecture celebrates 50th anniversary

People of Mongolia, Uygur, Hui and Han nationalities gathered at a mass rally held Wednesday in Korla, Xinjiang, to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council sent a message to the prefecture, wishing the region to be an affluent, stable and harmonious area.

Bayingolin, which means "affluent river valley" in Mongolian, is located in the southeastern part of Xinjiang with a population of 1.12 million, of which 42 percent are people of 37 ethnic groups. The autonomous prefecture was set up on June 23, 1954 under the approval of the State Council.

As the largest autonomous prefecture in China, it covers an area of 482,700 square kilometers, equal to the combined areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.

The gross domestic product of the prefecture rose to 18.9 billion yuan (2.2 billion US dollars) in 2003, 303 times of the 1954 figure.