Aksai Chin

Aksai Chin is an arid region divided between India and China, mostly controlled by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959. It is claimed by India as part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. Name Aksai Chin is first mentioned by Muhammad Amin, the Yarkandi guide of the Schlagintweit brothers. He explained its meaning as "the great white sand desert". Linguist George van Driem states that the name intended by Amin is Aqsai Chöl which could mean "white ravine desert" or "white coomb desert". The word chöl for desert seems to have been corrupted in English transliteration into "chin". Some sources have interpreted Aksai to have the Uyghur meaning "white stone desert", including several British colonial, modern Western, Chinese, and Indian sources. Some modern sources interpret it to mean "white brook" instead. At least one source interprets Aksai to mean "eastern" in the Yarkandi Uyghur dialect. The meaning of the word "Chin" has been disputed. It is taken to mean "China" by some Chinese, Western, and Indian sources. At least one source takes it to mean "pass". Other sources omit "Chin" in their interpretations. Van Driem states that there is no Uyghur word resembling "chin" for China.