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Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (Kazakh: Іле Қазақ автономиялық облысы) (also as Yili) is an autonomous prefecture for Kazakh people in Northern Xinjiang, China, one of five autonomous prefectures in Xinjiang. Yining City is its capital. It is bordered by Mongolia, Russian Federation and Republic of Kazakhstan on the northeast to southwest, with a boundary line of 2,019 kilometers. Including Khorgas, Bakhty and Jeminay, there are 9 ports of entry at the national level. With the unique location advantage, Ili has been an important commercial hub and international channel of opening up to the west. The autonomous prefecture covers an area of 268,591 square kilometers, accounting for 16.18% of Xinjiang. Direct-administered regions (直辖区域) within the prefecture cover 56,622 square kilometers (21.08% of total area) and have a population of 4,930,600 (or 63.95% of registered population). There are about 3.6 million Kazakhs in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The Kazakh autonomous prefecture of Ili (伊犁哈萨克自治州) is a special case of administrative divisions in China, its legal status is actually an administrative division at prefecture-level. It is the only autonomous prefecture in the country that has both directly administered county-level divisions and prefectures under its jurisdiction. When the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, the 3 prefectures of Altay, Ili and Tacheng were directly under the leadership of Xinjiang provincial government. The Mongol autonomous prefecture of Bortala was founded from Bole, Jinghe and Wenquan, 3 counties of Ili Prefecture (伊犁专区) in July 1954. The Kazakh autonomous prefecture of Ili had 3 prefectures of Altay, Ili and Tacheng under its administration when it was established in November 1954. The Ili Prefecture (伊犁专区) firstly ceased to be as a separate prefecture in December 1955, its county-level administrative units were directly administered by the autonomous prefecture of Ili. Since then, the Kazakh autonomous prefecture of Ili has existed as a separate administrative division. Its administrative divisions have either been reduced to the geographical scope of the former Ili Prefecture or expanded back to the territory of the former 3 prefectures. As a separate administrative unit, Ili Prefecture (伊犁地区) existed until its final dissolution in 2001. From Wikipedia