Ili River, Ili also spelled I-li, Kazak Ile,Chinese (Pinyin) Yili He or (Wade-Giles romanization) I-li Ho, or (Pinyin) Yili He,Kazakh Ileriver in western Uighur Uygur Autonomous Region of SinkiangXinjiang, China, and southeastern Kazakhstan. It is 870 miles (1,400 km) long and drains the basin between the Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”) range to the south and the P’o-lo-k’o-nu Borohoro (Poluokenu) Mountains to the north. Both ranges are extremely high. The drainage basin of the Ili and its principal tributaries—the K’a-shih, K’ung-chi-ssu, and T’e-k’o-ssu Kax (Kashi), Künes, and Tekes rivers—is rugged and mountainous, the axes of the mountain systems running approximately west-east. Just within the Chinese frontier the valley broadens out to form a fertile plain around I-ning Yining (Kuldja). The Ili River flows westward into KazakstanKazakhstan, to the north of Almaty, and eventually discharges into Lake BalqashBalkhash. The Ili valley is much wetter than most of Chinese Central Asia and has a large settled farming population, predominantly engaged in cultivating wheat. The uplands support large numbers of sheep, goats, and horses.