After the founding of New China, why did Dihua change its name to Urumqi?

Let's start with the history of Urumqi.

According to historical records, today's Urumqi area belonged to the residence of Che people in the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, the state built a city there called Yulai City. But it is called "beautiful pasture" by the people, and the Mongolian language is Urumqi.

So, when did it begin to be called Urumqi in history? Written in 925 AD and found in Dunhuang, Furuwada's Serbian book "The Story of Making Hexi" was written by an envoy sent by the Li Dynasty in Khotan at that time to Shazhou and other places in Hexi, and has been recorded in Urumqi.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Urumqi became a nomadic area of Mongolia and Hote in the desert west. After the demise of the Yuan Dynasty, part of the Heshuote Department stayed in the local area, part of it went to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with Gushi Khan, and part of it went to Russia's Volga River basin and other places with Turkut Department. During the Qing Dynasty, it was ruled by Junggar Khanate, one of the western Mongols, and was later pacified. Gan Long began to develop Urumqi on a large scale. At the same time, the Qing dynasty began to station troops in Urumqi to encourage reclamation and reduce grain taxes. At one time, Urumqi's agriculture, commerce and handicrafts developed rapidly and became a "land of prosperity". At the same time, the Qing government named this place Urumqi.

However, Urumqi was renamed later!

1758, in order to meet the needs of population growth, reclamation and commercial trade, the Qing army built a tucheng outside today's south gate, "five minutes a week, one foot and two feet high". 1763, Qianlong extended the old tucheng to the north, reaching a circumference of five miles and four minutes. After completion, Emperor Qianlong named the expanded city Dihua. Gan Long is very worried about losing this land. In order to weaken the influence of local residents in Urumqi, it was renamed Dihua City. Dihua means "enlighten". Emperor Qianlong hoped to use this name to maintain his rule, meaning "enlighten and educate the Uighurs with the fashion of civilization", in order to expect people here to have the heart of respecting the king and not to "rebel" from now on.

For a long time, people called this city Dihua.

1949, peaceful liberation of Xinjiang. 65438+February 65438+July, Dihua Municipal People's Government was established. 1 954 February1day, Dihua officially resumed its original name as Urumqi.