Aksai Chin

Proper noun

Aksai Chin

1. A cold desert plain in Central Asia divided between China and India
   • 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 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
   1. A part of the disputed Kashmir region administered by China.
      • 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...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
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
   • 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...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