On this day 28 years ago, on December 10, 1997 (November 11, 1997 in the lunar calendar), Kazakhstan moved its capital to Astana to replace Almaty. According to the order issued by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 20, 1997, Akmola (renamed "Astana" on May 6, 1998, meaning "Capital") officially replaced Almaty as the new capital of Kazakhstan from December 10, 1997. The official inauguration ceremony of the new capital was held on June 10, 1998. Almaty will continue to maintain its status as the national center of science and technology, culture, finance and industry. The main reason for the relocation of the capital is that Almaty is located in an earthquake-prone belt, etc. Akmola is located 1,200 kilometers north of Almaty and has a population of nearly 300,000. It is now the capital of Akmola Oblast. On November 8, 1997, the ceremony of handing over the national flag, national emblem and presidential flag of Kazakhstan to the new capital Akmola was held at the Kazakh Presidential Palace. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev pointed out that the relocation of the capital "opened a new chapter in Kazakh history" and will "greatly promote the balanced development of the political and economic regions of Kazakhstan." Kazakh national symbols arrived in Akmola city on the same day. Akmolaha means "white tomb" in Akmolaha language. It is located in the northern region of Kazakhstan near Siberia, 1,200 kilometers away from Almaty, and has a population of more than 200,000. Readers in their 60s will recall that in the mid-1950s, thousands of members of the Soviet Youth League responded to the party's call to open up the uninhabited Kazakh steppe and turn the wolf-infested virgin land into a commodity grain base for the whole of the Soviet Union. To commemorate their achievements, the city was named "Cellinograd", which means "virgin city" in Russian. After Kazakhstan gained independence, the city changed its name. In July 1994, at the initiative of President Nazarbayev, the Supreme Soviet of Kazakhstan passed a resolution to move the capital and established a capital relocation committee. The president declared at the time that the relocation would not cost the state treasury a penny. But a few days ago, the president changed his words, saying that he would allocate $200 million of the budget next year to build houses in the new capital. In fact, the president's decision to move the capital is also difficult to explain. First of all, the president wants to get rid of the constraints of the powerful Kazakh ethnic relationship. Kazakhs have had three major jade (large, medium and small) since ancient times, and the president belongs to the big jade. He rose from an ordinary steelworker to the top of the republic, and there are naturally many "benefactors". But "crossing the river and demolishing the bridge" is not in the tradition of the East. Therefore, thirty-six strategies are the best policy. Kazakhstan shares a 7,500-kilometer-long undemarcated border with Russia, and nearly 70% of the residents of the northern states are Russians, and there has always been a strong Russian separatist tendency. President Nazarbayev worried that after Yeltsin, if the Russian power changes to nationalists, the north of Kazakhstan may be re-integrated into the Russian territory. On May 6, 1998, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree announcing that Akmola, the new capital, would be renamed Astana (which means "capital" in Kazakh). Explaining the reasons for the name change, the Kazakh president said that the Akmola municipality and representative institutions had requested the name change. In addition, the negative meaning of Akmola's place name (which means "white tomb" in Kazakh) is often quoted in the domestic and foreign news media, which is not conducive to establishing the image of the new capital. On the same day, he also signed a decree declaring that Astana consists of two districts, the Sare-Arka district and the Almaty district. On June 10, 1998, Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent a congratulatory message to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, expressing warm congratulations on the relocation of the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Astana. The congratulatory message said: "The relocation of the capital is a major event in the political and social life of your country and is of great historical significance. As a friendly neighbor, we are honored to share this pleasant moment with your country, and sincerely wish your country continuous new achievements in the fields of politics, economy and culture, and welcome the arrival of the new century with a new look."