Aksai Chin

alternative Aksai-chin · alternative Aksayqin

1. A cold desert plain in Central Asia divided between China and India

   In the basin which lies immediately eastward of the valley of the head stream of the Indus, is the Aksai Chin, or White desert, concerning which, however, little more is known to Europeans than the name.

   1874, Keith Johnston, The Surface Zones of the Globe, W. & A. K. Johnston, →OCLC, page 37

   3 more examples

   The bed is not limited to the belt of country situated between Ser and Mer (Snowy Peak Range) chain and the Kailas chain. It is well developed in Rodok, near the Pang Chong Lake and up to the foot of the Korakoram chain, and it is very probable that the great Desert of Aksai Chin is a similar bed.

   1868, Albert M. Verchere, “Kashmir, the Western Himalaya and the Afghan Mountains”, in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume XXXVI, →OCLC, page 111

   In a grand mountain mass raising its glacier-crowned head in solitary splendor to the southeast, it was impossible to mistake the "Kuen-luen peak, No. 5," already triangulated from the Ladak side (pl. II). Behind this great mountain, for which the tables supplied by the survey department indicated a height of 23,890 feet, to the south and southeast there was to be seen a magnificent line of high snowy peaks marking the watershed toward the westernmost portion of the Aksai-chin plateau of Tibet.

   [1904, M. A. Stein, A Journey of Geographical and Archaeological Exploration in Chinese Turkestan (Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1903), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 759

   In this sector there are really two quite distinct disputes. The first is the issue of Aksai Chin, the desolate high wastes of the extreme north-east of Kashmir, across which the Chinese have built a motor road linking western Tibet with Sinkiang....The bulk of the contested area lies in the Aksai Chin region. South of the Panggong lake there are a number of contested points, near Chushul and at Demchok on the Indus for example. The Changchenmo serves as a connecting region between the Chinese claims in Aksai Chin and those south of Panggong lake.

   1964, Alastair Lamb, The China-India Border, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 7

   1. A part of the disputed Kashmir region administered by China.

      Then in 1962, Chinese forces seized the Aksai Chin, a high desert region in the eastern corner of Kashmir, which further muddled the border question.

      2021 March, Freddie Wilkinson, “A Line in the Mountains”, in National Geographic, page 112

      3 more examples

      In the western sector, the Chinese-Indian frontier dispute involves mainly the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh. Long limited to conflicting cartographic claims, the Aksai Chin issue flared in the 1950’s when the Chinese encroached on the area and upgraded a traditional caravan route between Sinkiang and Tibet across the Aksai Chin to a motor road, inaugurated in 1957. The Chinese were shown to be in actual control of Aksai Chin in the late 1950’s, and they retained control after the brief Indian-Chinese border war of November, 1962.

      1972, Theodore Shabad, China's Changing Map, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7

      When India proclaimed its independence from Britain, it did not proclaim its independence from British territorial claims. It included the Aksai Chin territory as well as the line demarcated by McMahon on all of its maps.

      2011, Henry Kissinger, On China, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 186

      The countries also have longstanding disputes over territories such as Aksai Chin, administered by China but claimed by India, and regions within Arunachal Pradesh, claimed by China but governed by India.

      2024 October 25, “China confirms progress in border de-escalation pact with India after key talks”, in EFE, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2025

2. A lake in Hotan County, Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang autonomous region, China, part of the disputed Aksai Chin.

   This pass is described as situated in the Kisil-korum Range, which is a branch from the Kara-tagh Range. The next day they arrived at the great lake Aksáe Chin, 16,620 feet, although I cannot make out what particular lake he means.

   [1922, Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet, Stockholm, →OCLC, page 5

   1 more example

   On the southern shore of the Aksai Chin lake we left our big luggage behind us in a depot. Our next goal was the Khitai Dawan, whence we could reach the Upper Kara-Kash. Leaving Sir Aurel Stein’s route of 1908 to the north, we crossed the brown mountains separating the Aksai Chin lake from the salt marshes in the west, which had been seen by Johnson in 1865.

   1930 June, Emil Trinkler, “Explorations in the Eastern Karkoram and in the Western Kunlun”, in The Geographical Journal, volume LXXV, number 6, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 510