HA-MI

Pinyin Hami, Uighur Qomul city and oasis in eastern Uighur autonomous ch' (region) of Sinkiang, China. An important stage on the roads from Kansu province into Central Asia and to the west, Ha-mi was known to the Chinese in early times as I-wu, the name Ha-mi being the Chinese rendering of the Mongolian version (Khamil) of the Uighur name for the city. The Chinese occupied the oasis in early times, when they pursued an expansionist policy in western Asia. During the Later Han dynasty it was temporarily occupied in AD 73. It was again temporarily occupied in 610 during the Sui dynasty and yet again during the T'ang dynasty after 630, when it became the seat of a regular prefecture, under the name I-chou, remaining under Chinese domination until 763, when the Tibetans overran the Chinese Northwest. In the 9th century it came under the rule of the Uighurs and in the 13th century came under Mongol domination. After the Mongol withdrawal it became one of the various small Uighur states and in 1473 was annexed by its neighbour, the sultanate of Turfan. In the late 16th and 17th centuries it came under the control of the Dzungars. From 1698 onward, the Ch'ing dynasty, embroiled with the Dzungars, used it as a base for their campaigns and incorporated it into their empire. It was badly damaged, like most of Sinkiang, in the Muslim Rebellion of 186070. Since 1949 Ha-mi has been provided with both rail and highway communications with the rest of China. A coalfield nearby produces coal to supply industry in Wu-lu-mu-ch'i (Urumchi). In the late 1950s Ha-mi became a major iron and steel producer. Pop. (1985 est.) 141,100.