Meanings
- A Mongol autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang autonomous region, China.
Wenquan is part of the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, the base of the Chahar in Xinjiang. (Their ancestral home is in present-day Inner Mongolia, where the majority of Chahar in China live.) The prefecture is one of several scattered enclaves that arose from Qing-era garrisons.
2017 June 18, Edward Wong, “Mongolian Warriors and Communist Soldiers: A Frontier Town in China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2017, Asia Pacific3 more examples
Urumchi Sinkiang Regional Service in Mandarin at 1300 GMT on 30 October reports that 143d Regimental Farm in Shihhotze Prefecture develops forestry. The same broadcasts reports that 84th Regimental Farm in Poerhtala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture restores award system in efforts to promote animal husbandry.
[1978 November 3 [1978 October 30], “PRC Radio Reports on Activities of Chinese PLA Units”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 214, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Urumchi Sinkiang Regional Service via Editorial Report OW, translation of original in Mandarin, →ISSN, →OCLC, National Affairs, page E 7Overall, trade via the new ports of entry on the Xinjiang-Kazakstani border expanded tremendously in the first five years. Six of the new ports are by road: They include[...]The most important route, however, is the railway link that crosses the Chinese-Kazakstani border at Alataw (Ala Shankou), in the Bortala-Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.
1998, Linda Benson, Ingvar Svanberg, China's Last Nomads, M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 201The ruling Communist Party’s graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said that Guo Xiangyi, who was a senior official in Xinjiang’s Bortala region, abused his power, took bribes and expropriated land. Guo, likely a Han Chinese judging by his name, also “faked and changed the ethnicity of his wife and child”, the statement said, without giving details. While the Uighurs, a Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, are the main minority in Xinjiang, Bortala is home to a large number of ethnic Mongols.
2015 December 24, Ben Blanchard, “Minority report: Chinese official 'faked family's ethnicity'”, in Nick Macfie, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2022, World News
Origin
- Mongolianᠪᠣᠷᠣᠲᠠᠯᠠ
- EnglishBortala
Borrowed from Mongolian ᠪᠣᠷᠣᠲᠠᠯᠠ (borotal-a).
More words from Mongolian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 博爾塔拉 /博尔塔拉
- 博爾塔拉 /博尔塔拉 (Bó'ěrtǎlā)Mongol autonomous prefecture
Japanese ボルタラ
- ボルタラ (Borutara)Mongol autonomous prefecture
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Bortala. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bortala
“Bortala.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bortala. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bortala,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bortala.
Source: Bortala on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.