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On my upcoming trip to China one place on my list to visit is Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County.

This Xibe people are related to the Manchu people. The Manchu were rulers of China during the Qing dynasty after having successfully invaded and taken over. But they completely assimilated into Chinese culture and their language is now all but extinct. The Xibe people however maintain their traditional language. Some Chinese of Manchu descent who are interested in their roots have been going to Qapqal to learn the lost language of their ancestors.

Interestingly, the Xibe area is entirely within the borders of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The Kazakhs are another recognized ethnic minority of China.

Besides autonomous counties and prefectures there are also autonomous regions and banners where various ethnic minorities are given some degree of autonomy, hence the naming.

Such areas typically have rules such as that all signs must be bilingual in Chinese and the local traditional language. Pretty interesting if you're into languages, writing systems, anthropology, ethnic minorities, etc.

So this has got me wondering if there is anywhere in China one or more three-level-deep autonomous area(s)?

That is to say an official area where a recognized ethnic minority is surrounded by a larger official area where another recognized ethnic minority is once more surrounded by an even larger official area having a third recognized ethnic minority.

Where is the deepest level of nesting in all of such ethnic minority autonomous areas in China?

hippietrail
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  • Is the county autonomous from the prefecture? – CMaster Sep 22 '16 at 08:23
  • @CMaster: I don't think they really get so much autonomy as their names suggests in any case. I read about that stuff on Quora a while back but don't remember. If you're interested trying Googling for that question on Quora. You can also try searching within Quora but as for SE I find Google does a better search job than the site search features. – hippietrail Sep 22 '16 at 09:24
  • @jonathanreez Migrate to Politics SE? (Only 25% serious suggestion.) – Fiksdal Sep 22 '16 at 14:15
  • @JonathanReez: Here's one about geopolitical positioning to close. And not to mention this old classic about geopolitical borders in Belgum and the Netherlands which now turns out to be off topic. Too bad. I'm sure this is some kind of retaliatory closing because you disagree with some of my previous arguments rather than any belief that no factoid questions about borders can also be travel questions. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 04:30
  • @Fiksdal: You guys might hate this one too, or do borders have to be mentioned to make it off-topic? Is there a city in the world with more bridges than Amsterdam, the Netherlands? In case a border mention is the distinguishing factor, then this one is a definite closer, right? What are the two closest countries that do not share a border? Lots more closing to do: What's the highest number of countries whose borders meet at a single point? – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 04:47
  • @hippietrail I don't hate your question! I thought it was funny, actually and would have loved it on Politics or Geography or whatever. In fact, I hate very few questions. Now, as for these older geography questions, I had never seen any of them. They're old, and I've only had 3K rep for like a month. If I had seen some of them in the review queue I probably would have voted for them, too. As for this one, why don't you vote to reopen and send it back into the queue? Or post on meta? It's not an extremely off-topic question. – Fiksdal Sep 23 '16 at 06:29
  • I did vote to reopen. Meta maybe later. I have actual travel stuff to do. It's as on-topic as the our factoids questions can be. If you are against all factoid questions per se, then bringing that up again would also be a good new meta topic. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 06:39
  • hippietrail, It reminds me of this question The problem is, as Gayot Fow said there, that there are so many users with > 3k rep, and we all have different feeliings on what's on-topic. It might even depend on our moods, etc! Now, I'm not sure if your comment to @JonathanReez is correct in suggesting there may be "retaliatory" close-voting going on. (Of course, it does occasionally happen on SE sites), but I'm not sure if it was the case here. But remember, humans are very subjective creatures. Anyway, posting on meta is probably a good idea. – Fiksdal Sep 23 '16 at 07:08
  • Well I am also subject to moods and seeing a question you thought good get closed affects your mood if you are passionate about travel.SE. That was one of the potential reasons that popped into my head. Actually though for the most part I have no mental connection between usernames and the kinds of questions and answers the like or dislike. My problem with factoid questions was always that they're subjective, even if they have objective answers, whether they are "travelly" or not is subjective over 90% of the time. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 07:18
  • By the way, here is our closest current equivalent to a canonical Meta question about geographical factoids. I might focus mainly on the subcategory of "superlative factoids", which covers both the bridges question and the Autonomous regions question. I have now also reworded this question here to include a superlative in case that's the dividing line between bad factoid and good factoid questions. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 07:46
  • I have rewritten the question to include all the anthropological and linguistic reasons which made me interested in such places in China in the first place. It's not just about arbitrary ines on maps of funny names chosen by politicians. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 08:02
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    @hippietrail Good job, voted to reopen. You've included the mandatory "I WANNA TRAVEL THERE!!!" selling point. It's like, on Worldbuilding questions that say. "What if there were giant zombies in every tree" will be closed, but if you go "I'm designing this world where there are giant zombies in every tree, and I'm unsure of the political aspects of it" it will be fine, lol. – Fiksdal Sep 23 '16 at 08:19
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    @Fiksdal: We try not to do that here. But sometimes it helps to be illustrative when people interpret different ways or question the motivation of a question. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 08:23
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Fiksdal Sep 23 '16 at 10:20
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about travel. – fkraiem Jul 24 '19 at 22:49
  • @fkraiem: Please be sure to closevote all of the other questions with the "factoids" tag. Or check Meta to see if we've already discussed and decided in the past whether what to do with them. – hippietrail Jul 25 '19 at 03:46

2 Answers2

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Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture is part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, making Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County a three-level deep autonomous area!

Mark
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    Well it appears you have blown my mind again! (-: – hippietrail Sep 22 '16 at 09:22
  • Are you sure about that? Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County shares a border with Kazakhstan so it technically does not qualify as an enclave. – DTRT Sep 22 '16 at 11:55
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    @Johns-305 I am not sure I understand what you mean? Being an autonomous region has nothing to do with bordering other countries. In China, it's usually related to the ethnicity of the people living in it... – Mark Sep 22 '16 at 12:13
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    @Mark: I think Johns-305 has taken "within" in the question to mean "completely surrounded by", "an enclave within". But since the questioner already says Qapqal Xibe is within Ili Kazakh, that can't be the intended meaning. – Steve Jessop Sep 22 '16 at 12:15
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    @SteveJessop Oh I see, well if that's what the question was asking, then yes, I guess my answer doesn't hold up. Thanks for the clarification! – Mark Sep 22 '16 at 12:18
  • yes, mindblowing ! – Fattie Sep 22 '16 at 14:23
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    @Johns-305 It's still administratively a triple enclave, even if it's not one geographically. – lambshaanxy Sep 23 '16 at 09:58
  • @Mark: Beer's on me if you can find more examples - especially if there is a 4-deep one, if that's even possible. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 15:02
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    @hippietrail: as an example which does not border another country I present Yanqi Hui Autonomous County, part of Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous prefecture in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Furthermore, the following are also located in Xinjiang: Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. I don't think 4 levels deep is possible under China's administrative system but I'll look around! I'll also look for examples that are not in Xinjiang. Good luck hitting up all of them! ;) – Mark Sep 23 '16 at 15:15
  • @hippietrail should be noted that 'autonomous' does not directly translate into Chinese. Xinjiang is one of the most heavily controlled police-states in the world and has almost no actual 'autonomy'. – easymoden00b Sep 23 '16 at 16:51
  • @easymoden00b: Well it translates between the languages, but politically it doesn't mean they get anything like self determination. Autonomous bits that are not uppity get a little bit more say over stuff that doesn't matter much. I've read about it before bet it all gets deep and hard to remember. There's some good Q&As about it on Quora. But it's the fact they're areas for ethnic minorities that makes them interesting even if they don't get to be areas run by local ethnic minorities. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 23:47
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Background

There are five levels of Autonomous administrative divisions in China, namely

  1. Province - Autonomous Regions
  2. Prefecture - Autonomous Prefectures
  3. County - Autonomous Counties/Banners, Ethnic Districts
  4. Township - Ethnic Town/Township/Sumu
  5. Village - Ethnic Village

Strictly speaking, "Ethnic" administrative divisions in level 3-5 are not considered "autonomous" by law. However, for the purpose of this answer let's ignore this caveat.

Note 1: This answer deals with Township-level and above only, as there are simply too many villages to sift through!

Note 2: Some three-level deep examples are non-continuous, which I believe are not against the spirit of the question.

Note 3: At county level and above, there are official and established transliteration conventions for place names that originated in languages other than Chinese (example: Kashgar 喀什). However, it is extremely difficult to find such conventions for names of townships. As such, townships are transliterated in Pinyin here (example: Kekeyaer Kirghiz Ethnic Township 科克亚尔柯尔克孜族乡).

UPDATED transliterations for township names from the following sources,

  1. NGA GEOnet Names Server (GNS)
  2. EKI Place Names Database (KNAB)
  3. 中国地名词典 (Zhongguo diming cidian), Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House, 1990

Note 4: Tacheng Prefecture and Altay Prefecture are administratively under the sub-provincial Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

Winners (four-level deep)

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区) (2)

  • Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture (昌吉回族自治州)

    Mori Kazakh Autonomous County (木垒哈萨克自治县)

    ---- Danangou Uzbek Ethnic Township (大南沟乌孜别克族乡)

  • Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁哈萨克自治州)

    Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County (察布查尔锡伯自治县)

    ---- Miliangquan Hui Ethnic Township (米粮泉回族乡)

Honourable mentions (three-level deep)

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区) (30)

  • Kashgar Prefecture (喀什地区)

    Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County (塔什库尔干塔吉克自治县)

    ---- Kokyar Kirghiz Ethnic Township (科克亚尔柯尔克孜族乡)

  • Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture (昌吉回族自治州)

    Changji City (昌吉市)

    ---- Axili Kazakh Ethnic Township (阿什里哈萨克族乡)

    Fukang City (阜康市)

    ---- Sangonghe Kazakh Ethnic Township (三工河哈萨克族乡)

    ---- Akkol Kazakh Ethnic Township (上户沟哈萨克族乡)

    Hutubi County (呼图壁县)

    ---- Tasbaspaldak Kazakh Ethnic Township (石梯子哈萨克民族乡)

    Manas County (玛纳斯县)

    ---- Qingshuihe Kazakh Ethnic Township (清水河哈萨克族乡)

    ---- Taxihe Kazakh Ethnic Township (塔西河哈萨克族乡)

    ---- Hankazitan Kazakh Ethnic Township (旱卡子滩哈萨克族乡)

    Qitai County (奇台县)

    ---- Wumachang Kazakh Ethnic Township (五马场哈萨克族乡)

    ---- Qorin Kazakh Ethnic Township (乔仁哈萨克族乡)

    ---- Daquan Tatar Ethnic Township (大泉塔塔尔族乡)

  • Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (巴音郭楞蒙古自治州)

    Yanqi Hui Autonomous County (焉耆回族自治县)

    Hoxud County (和硕县)

    ---- Uxxaktal Hui Ethnic Township (乌什塔拉回族乡)

  • Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁哈萨克自治州)

    Khorgas City (霍尔果斯市)

    ---- Iqegaxan Xibe Ethnic Township (伊车嘎善锡伯族乡)

    Yining County (伊宁县)

    ---- Yuqunweng Hui Ethnic Township (愉群翁回族乡)

    Huocheng County (霍城县)

    ---- Sangong Hui Ethnic Township (三宫回族乡)

    Zhaosu County (昭苏县)

    ---- Qagan Us Mongol Ethnic Township (察汗乌苏蒙古族乡)

    ---- Xat Kirghiz Ethnic Township (夏特柯尔克孜族乡)

    ---- Hosumtuharson Mongol Ethnic Township (胡松图喀尔逊蒙古族乡)

    Tekes County (特克斯县)

    ---- Hujirti Mongol Ethnic Township (呼吉尔特蒙古族乡)

    ---- Kokterak Kirghiz Ethnic Township (阔克铁热克柯尔克孜族乡)

    Nilka County (尼勒克县)

    ---- Hoh Hothor Mongol Ethnic Township (科克浩特浩尔蒙古族乡)

  • Tacheng Prefecture (塔城地区)

    Tacheng City

    ---- Axili Daur Ethnic Township (阿西尔达斡尔族乡)

    Usu City (乌苏市)

    ---- Jirgiltigolin Mongol Ethnic Township (吉尔格勒特郭愣蒙古族乡)

    ---- Tablihat Mongol Ethnic Township (塔布勒合特蒙古族乡)

    Emin County (额敏县)

    ---- Emalgolin Mongol Ethnic Township (额玛勒郭楞蒙古族乡)

    ---- Hujirti Mongol Ethnic Township (霍吉尔特蒙古族乡)

  • Altay Prefecture (阿勒泰地区)

    Altay City (阿勒泰市)

    ---- Handigati Mongol Ethnic Township (汗德尕特蒙古族乡)

    Burqin County (布尔津县)

    ---- Kumkanas Mongol Ethnic Township (禾木哈纳斯蒙古族乡)

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区) (6)

  • Liuzhou City (柳州市)

    Rongshui Miao Autonomous County (融水苗族自治县)

    ---- Tonglian Yao Ethnic Township (同练瑶族乡)

    ---- Gunbei Dong Ethnic Township (滚贝侗族乡)

    Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County (三江侗族自治县)

    ---- Tongle Miao Ethnic Township (同乐苗族乡)

    ---- Gaoji Miao Ethnic Township (高基苗族乡)

    ---- Fulu Yao Ethnic Township (富禄瑶族乡)

  • Hechi City (河池市)

    Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County (环江毛南族自治县)

    ---- Xunle Miao Ethnic Township (驯乐苗族乡)

Sichuan Province (四川省) (5)

  • Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (凉山彝族自治州)

    Muli Tibetan Autonomous County (木里藏族自治县)

    ---- Eya Nakhi Ethnic Township (俄亚纳西族乡)

    ---- Wujiao Mongol Ethnic Township (屋脚蒙古族乡)

    ---- Baidiao Miao Ethnic Township (白碉苗族乡)

    ---- Xiangjiao Mongol Ethnic Township (项脚蒙古族乡)

    ---- Guzeng Miao Ethnic Township (固增苗族乡)

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古自治区) (3)

  • Hulunbuir City (呼伦贝尔市)

    Ewenki Autonomous Banner (鄂温克族自治旗)

    ---- Bayan Tal Daur Ethnic Township (巴彦塔拉达斡尔族乡)

    Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner (莫力达瓦达斡尔族自治旗)

    ---- Bayan Ewenki Ethnic Township (巴彦鄂温克族乡)

    ---- Dulari Ewenki Ethnic Township (杜拉尔鄂温克族乡)

Yunnan Province (云南省) (2)

  • Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture (红河哈尼族彝族自治州)

    Hekou Yao Autonomous County (河口瑶族自治县)

    ---- Qiaotou Miao and Zhuang Ethnic Township (桥头苗族壮族乡)

    Jinping Miao, Yao, and Dai Autonomous County (金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县)

    ---- Zhemi Lahu Ethnic Township (者米拉祜族乡)

Qinghai Province (青海省) (1)

  • Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (海北藏族自治州)

    Menyuan Hui Autonomous County (门源回族自治县)

    ---- Huangcheng Mongol Ethnic Township (皇城蒙古族乡)

Asura
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