Geographical Center of Asian Continent

Geographical Center of Asian Continent (亚洲地理中心) is the name of a monument indicating the supposed geographical center of the Asian continent. It is located about 20 km south-west of Ürümqi, Xinjiang province, People's Republic of China.

The measurement on which it is based dates to 1992. It was based on calculating the geographical center of 49 Asian countries (including the island states of Cyprus and Japan, and counting Palestine and Sikkim as separate countries), placing the geographical center of these countries at .

Before the completion of the monument, the site was marked by a wooden pole stating "Geographic Center of Asia" (亚洲地理中心). A village that happened to be located at the site where the monument was to be built was relocated, and the new village is now known as the "Heart of Asia" (亚心村).

The site has a tower labelled "Center of Asia" which represents 48 countries of Asia. The monument was completed in the late 1990s.

As calculating the geographical center of Asia will depend significantly not only on the definition of Asia but also on the projection used (radial projection on the plane vs. projection on a geoid), there is no objectively correct way of finding "the center of Asia". The city of Kyzyl, in the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation has a similar monument located at "the center of Asia", in the Tos-Bulak area south of the city, located about 700 km to the north-to-northeast of the Ürümqi monument.

External links

• http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-725957-1-1.html
• http://www.aboutxinjiang.com/Travel/content/2010-07/23/content_5117116.htm