Kutubi

Kutubi, or Hutubi, lies along the northern foot of the Tian Shan, where the Hutubi River descends toward the Dzungarian basin. Its name derives from the Dzungar Mongolian name of the river, Hutukbai, associated with auspiciousness. The area had long served as pasture before the Qing military and administrative establishments of the eighteenth century gave the locality a new role.

In 1755 the Qing established a military relay station on the western route from Urumqi, naming it Hutukbai Station. A patrol inspectorate was established at Luokelun in 1757 and reorganized as the Hutubi inspectorate in 1763. The following year Jinghua City was built under its administration. These successive stations, offices and walls mark a rapid change in the place's institutional landscape during the decade after the Qing conquest of Dzungaria.