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{{Short description|Town in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China}}
{{coord|44|03|N|80|52|E|display=title}}
'''Shuiding''' ({{zh|s=水定镇|p=Shuǐdìng Zhèn}}; {{langx|ug|سۈيدۈڭ بازىرى}}), formerly '''Suiding''' (Suiting) ({{zh|s=绥定|p=Suídìng|links=no}}) is a [[Town (China)|town]] in the [[Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture]],  [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]], [[China]] and the county seat of [[Huocheng County]]. It is located some {{convert|40|km}} to the northwest of [[Yining City|Yining]], the main city of the prefecture, and some {{convert|10|km}} north of the [[Ili River]].
{{As of|2000|alt=As of the 2000 census}}, Shuiding had a population of 29,277.
== History ==
=== Qing dynasty ===
[[File:Lansdell-1885-p204-Ruined-Chinese-gates-at-Suidun.jpg|thumb|right|"Ruined Chinese gates in Suidun" (1882)]]
Suiding ({{zh|t=綏定城|labels=no}}) was built in 1762 during the reign of the [[Qianlong Emperor]] after the [[Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas]] was pacified. From 1762 to 1765 Suiding was the seat of the Governor General of [[Xinjiang]], the [[General of Ili]]. In 1765 the General of Ili moved to the larger fortress of [[Huiyuan, Xinjiang|Huiyuan]] ({{zh|t=惠遠城|p=Huìyuǎn Chéng|labels=no}}).
Huiyuan suffered severe damage during the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–77)|Dungan Revolt]] of 1862–77 when the besieged General of Ili, [[Mingsioi]], blew himself up in his palace rather than surrender to the rebels, and during the Russian occupation that followed between 1871-81. The Russians left pursuant to the 1881 [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)|Treaty of Saint Petersburg]]. From 1882 to 1894 the General of Ili resided at Suiding, while a new Huiyuan fortress was being rebuilt.
In 1888 Suiding County (now [[Huocheng County]] and [[Khorgas]]) was established. Suiding was the county seat.
The town's name was commonly transcribed in the West as '''Suidun'''. The 1911 [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] described "Suidun" as "a military town, with provision stores, an arsenal and an arms workshop. Its walls are armed with steel guns."<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Suidun |volume=26 |page=51}}</ref>
Unlike the city of [[Yining City|Yining]], originally known as Ningyuan ({{zh|s=宁远城|p=Níngyuǎn Chéng|labels=no}}), which has always remained the commercial center of the region, the 19th century Huiyuan/Suiding was mostly a fortress and an administrative town. It was known to the Russians as the ''New Kuldja'', ''Chinese Kuldja'', or ''Manchu Kuldja'', to distinguish it from [[Yining City|Yining]] (the ''Old Kuldja'' or the ''[[Taranchi]] Kuldja''). This usage is no longer current.
=== People's Republic ===
With the creation of the Ili Prefecture ({{zh|s=伊犁专区|p=Yīlí Zhuānqū|links=no}}) in 1950, the then existing [[Suiding County]] was included into the Area, as was
the neighboring [[Huocheng County]]; in 1955, the Ili Special Area became [[Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture]]. In 1965, the name Suiding ({{zh|s=绥定|p=Suídìng}}) was replaced with more politically correct Shuiding ({{zh|s=水定|p=Shuǐdìng}}), with 'shui' ('water') replacing 'sui' ("to pacify"). The next year (1966), Shuiding County was merged into Huocheng County, and the Huocheng County county seat was transferred to Shuiding town.
<ref>[http://www.xzqh.org/quhua/65xj/40yili.htm The Ili Kazakh Prefecture page], at the China Administrative Division info site {{in lang|zh}}</ref>
== Present ==
The original Huiyuan site is now a separate town of [[Huiyuan Town|Huiyuan]] ({{zh|s=惠远镇|p=Huìyuǎn Zhèn}}) within the same [[Huocheng County]] as Shuiding. Huiyuan's population was reported as 20,564 by the Year 2000 Census.
Some of the Qing period buildings, including a bell tower and a "Governor General's Pavilion", have been rebuilt at the Huiyuan site as a tourist attraction, often referred to as the "Huiyuan Old Town" ({{zh|s=惠远古城|p=Huìyuǎn Gǔchéng}}).<ref>[http://www.silk-road-china.com/yining/huiyuan-city.htm], [http://www.chinaxinjiang.cn/rsxj/xzqh/t20050925_57775.htm]
[http://www.cn0km.com/index.php?title=%E6%83%A0%E8%BF%9C%E5%9F%8E]</ref>
== Further reading  ==
* [http://www.xzqh.org/quhua/65xj/4023hc.htm Huocheng County information], at the China Administrative Division info site {{in lang|zh}}
* [http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/007/098/98008.htm Suidun] in [[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]] {{in lang|ru}}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Suidun |volume=26 |page=51 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050414183449/http://www.muztagh.net/ili/sights/huiyuancheng.htm 伊犁惠远城] (Ili's Huiyuan City) {{in lang|zh}}
* [[Henry Lansdell]], "Russian Central Asia: Including Kuldja, Bokhara, Khiva and Merv". [https://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC08187146 Full text] available at [[Google Books]]; there is also a 2001 facsimile reprint of the 1885 edition, {{ISBN|1-4021-7762-3}}. (Chapters XIV-XVII describe Lansdell visit to the area in the early 1880s, soon after the Russian withdrawal. He visited "Suidun" (Suiding), mentioned already ruined "Ili or Manchu Kuldja" (Huiyancheng), and then went to "Taranchi Kuldja" (Yining))
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Populated places in Xinjiang]]