ILI RIVER

Ili also spelled I-li, Kazak Ile, Chinese (Wade-Giles) I-li Ho, or (Pinyin) Yili He, river in western Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. It is 870 miles (1,400 km) long and drains the basin between the Tien Shan (Celestial Mountains) to the south and the P'o-lo-k'o-nu Mountains to the north. Both ranges are extremely high. The drainage basin of the Ili and its principal tributariesthe K'a-shih, K'ung-chi-ssu, and T'e-k'o-ssu riversis rugged and mountainous, the axes of the mountain systems running approximately west-east. Just within the Chinese frontier the valley broadens out to form a fertile plain around I-ning (Kuldja). The Ili River flows westward into Kazakstan, to the north of Almaty, and eventually discharges into Lake Balqash. The Ili valley is much wetter than most of Chinese Central Asia and has a large settled farming population, predominantly engaged in cultivating wheat. The uplands support large numbers of sheep, goats, and horses.