Get to know Karamay District
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Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Karamay
- Chinese name
- 克拉玛依区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Population · 2020
- 337,188
- Administrative seat
- Tianshan Road Subdistrict
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Asphalt hills and oilfield history
At Black Oil Hill (黑油山), long-term crude-oil seepage has formed asphalt mounds. The surface includes oil-stained sandstone and conglomerate cemented by petroleum. Nearby Well Number One (一号井) produced industrial oil flow on 29 October 1955, marking the discovery of the oilfield. Karamay Museum (克拉玛依博物馆), on Junggar Road (准噶尔路), was completed in July 1983. Its displays trace prehistoric geology, early oil development and later urban history.
An artificial river through the city
The Karamay River (克拉玛依河) landscape was built through an artificial water-diversion project. Its features include Jiulongtan (九龙潭), seventeen differently shaped bridges, musical fountains, Century Park (世纪公园) and Fengqi Lake (凤栖湖). The district government also identifies petroleum and natural gas among its principal mineral resources.
Sources for this guide
克拉玛依区概况_克拉玛依区概况_克拉玛依区人民政府 · Karamay District Government
政府信息公开_克拉玛依市人民政府 · Karamay Municipal Government
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-27.
Explore Karamay District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Karamay District
The Karamay Museum building, with its name in gold lettering on the facade · 克拉玛依博物馆建筑外观，正立面金色馆名 Source-recorded photograph date: 2024-09-27 10:09:52.Karamay Museum克拉玛依博物馆
Karamay's city museum, founded as an oilfield-history hall in 1983, with a BU-40 drilling rig and 1950s drillers' cellars in the yard.
Read the place guide →
Black Oil Mountain · 黑油山Black Oil Mountain黑油山
Black Oil Mountain (黑油山) is a group of natural petroleum asphalt mounds two kilometres north-east of the Karamay urban area, in Karamay District (克拉玛依区), Karamay (克拉玛依市), Xinjiang.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Karamay District covers the centre of Karamay. Search for 克拉玛依区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Karamay Museum and Black Oil Mountain are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Karamay →More in Karamay
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Photo: Karamay Museum · HaziiDozen · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Black Oil Mountain · HaziiDozen · CC BY-SA 4.0. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.