Aral, Ala'er or Alar (simplified Chinese: 阿拉尔; traditional Chinese: 阿拉爾; pinyin: Ālā'ěr; Uyghur: ئارال, Арал‎, ULY: Aral[1]) is a sub-prefecture-level city surrounded by Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in China. Aral in Uighur means "island."[2] Official spelling is 'Aral' but it is often written as 'Alar'.