Wujiaqu
In the late Qing five families dug a canal from the Laolong River, and their Five Families' Canal gave its name to this city north of Bogda Peak.
A place shaped through time
Wujiaqu lies north of Bogda Peak in the Tianshan, on the southern rim of the Junggar Basin, bordering Urumqi to the east and south. In the late Qing and early Republican years, five families named Yang, Feng, Du and others dug a canal from the Laolong River to water their fields, and the Five Families' Canal gave the city its name. Under the Qianlong emperor the area belonged to Dihua, later to Dihua and Changji counties after Xinjiang became a province, and then to Qiande county. Meltwater from Bogda and the canals that carry it irrigate the farmland of this basin-edge oasis. A small canal dug by five households marks the beginning of its story.