FORMATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN PLACES IN MODERN XINJIANG

From the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, urban places of Xinjiang have entered a reconstruction course and gradually grown up top three city systems,namely, eight towns centered in Kashi City,nine towns in Yili City, as well as Dihua City (now the Urumqi city) ets, which comprised the basic frame of mordern city system in Xinjiang. In mordern times,the barycenter of Xinjiang's towns have been experienced a dynamic migration,first from South Xinjiang to North Xinjiang,second from Kashi toYiLi,then shifted from YiLi in the west to Urumqi in the east, which continued up to now. The composition of towns of Xinjiang is shaped chiefly by many factors: topography, relief military, regional economy and water resources. The city shapes have experienced a development course: small lump→streak→large lump. At the same time, those towns varied for its own location, which acts as a vital role in forming rectangle and irregular shape of the town.Here the towns of Qing Dynasty characterized by the coexistence of the Han nationality and Manchu. In some places of Xinjiang, the political center separates from administrative axis. Divided by TianShan mountains,the composition of the towns are integrated into south and north parts. Circling the brim of Tarim Basin, the urban places in south part mainly aggregated in the west part and centered in Kashi; while the urban places in north part surrounded the brink of Junggar basin and concentrated along the north foot of Tianshan mountains.The function of the urban place is complex. Most towns are characterized by their military and political purposes in early period,but later they were gradually provided with many other functions such as economy,industry (handicraft industry→traditional industry→mordern industry), cultural and commerce ets.