Yakeshi (China)

Yakeshi (Mongolian: ᠶᠠᠭᠰᠢ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ; Chinese: 牙克石) is a county-level city of Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China. Yakeshi has a population of 391,627 and an area of 27,590 square kilometres (10,650 sq mi). It is situated next to the Hailar River 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of Hailar District, the seat of Hulunbuir, and on the north side of the Greater Khingan Range. The city's economy is based on forestry industry, wood products, traditional Chinese medicines, gold, coal, iron, copper, wheat, rapeseed farming, sheep raising and dairy industries. In 2008 several major players in the automobile industry established car testing facilities in Yakeshi. As part of the Electronic stability control (ESC)-development for new cars, special prototype cars are tested under winter conditions on frozen lakes and special snow-tracks. The first such test facilities were set up in the city by the German automobile supplier Robert Bosch GmbH whose development center for the Chinese car market is in Suzhou in Eastern China. The city is connected by rail to Harbin and Hailar, and the nearest airport is in Hailar. The original name for the city, Xuguit Banner, came from the Mongolian word for the area. Its name was changed to Yakeshi in 1983 when it was designated a county-level city.