The prefecture is located in the southeast of Xinjiang and Korla city as the capital of the prefecture is 471 kilometers away based on highway mileage from Urumqi and 603.5 kilometers based on railway mileage. Under it administration are eight counties and one city, with a population of 1,037,900 (455,400 for ethnic minorities), of which rural population (excluding population in Xinjinag Construction and Production Corps) is 628,500. The prefecture has the tilled land of 139,500 hectares, sown grain area (including re-sown area) of 45,600 hectares and sown cash crops area of 93,900 hectares. It belongs to continental climate between mesothermal zone and warm temperate zone.In the territory of Bayangol Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, there are some rivers including the Tarim River, the Kaidou River, the Dinar River and the Miran River, with annual surface run-off of 106 hundred million cubic meters. The natural pastureland area is 11 million hectares in area. The wild animals number 261 in species, of which 11 are the first-class animals under the state protection, 12 are the second class and 4 are the fourth class. There are 477 kinds of herbs dominated by licorice and antlers. There are 29 kinds of ores, the bigger deposits of which are oil, natural gas, vermiculite, asbestos, manganese, dolomite, gypsum, clay, lime stone and jade. The main attractions are the Bosten Lake, the Bayanbulak Grassland, the Taklamakan Desert, The Altun Nature reserve, the Tiemen Gate, the Ancient City of Loulan, the Xikeqin Thousand Buddha Caves, The Remains of Miran, the Yellow Lamasery in Baluntai and the Manchu Princely Establishment.

    Korla-a New City in Oasis

    Korla, the capital of Bayangol Mongolian Autonomous Region, is located on the southern slope of the Tianshan Mountains and northeast edge of the Tarim Basin, being well known for its fragrant pears.At present, Korla has become a collecting and distributing place of railway transportation between inner-land provinces, east Xinjiang, north Xinjiang and south Xinjiang and central station between eastward, westward and southward air-transportation. The post-service and telecommunication have already ranked among national advanced cities, GNP and financial income have come to the front among cities at county-level in Xinjiang and urban built area has come to the second place only next to Urumqi.Korla people, with the advantages of geography and resources as its mainstay, petrol chemical development as a center, construction on trade and commercial collection and distribution as a link and municipal works construction as a lead, will adopt the economic manner integrating local industry and petroleum development and work well on some initial projects in order to help shape a industrial structure in petroleum industrial park and build Korla into a new-type petrol-chemical city.