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UrUmqi or Urumchi[both: OOrOOm´chE] Pronunciation Key, city (1994 est. pop. 1,130,300), capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, in the Dzungarian basin. UrUmqi is an administrative and commercial center at the junction of several caravan routes from the Central Asian Republics, Lanzhou (Gansu prov.), and Kashi (Kashgar). It is linked to the Chinese rail network via Lanzhou. The main industrial center of Xinjiang, UrUmqi has benefited from the discovery of large petroleum deposits at Karamay. It has oil refineries, iron- and steelworks, textile mills, and plants manufacturing motor vehicles, agricultural machinery, chemicals, machine tools, and cement. Coal, tin, and silver mines are nearby. The population is mostly Uigur with minorities of Manchus, Chinese, and Kazakhs. Chinese influence began about 122 B.C. when Emperor Wu Ti of the Han dynasty conquered E Xinjiang. UrUmqi is the seat of Xinjiang Univ.; there is also a medical college, several technical institutes, and a museum with a rare collection of mummies. The city was called Dihua (Tihwa) until 1954.
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