a city under oblast jurisdiction in Chu Raion, Dzhambul Oblast, Kazakh SSR; situated on the left bank of the Chu River, 230 km northeast of Dzhambul. Chu has a railroad station on the Alma-Ata-Dzhambul line. The city has a machinery repair plant, a sugar factory, a milk plant, and enterprises serving railroad transportation.

a river in the Kirghiz and Kazakh SSR’s. The Chu is 1,067 km long and drains an area of 62,500 sq km. It is formed by the confluence of the Dzhuvanaryk and Kochkor rivers, which originate at glaciers in the Terskei-Alatau and Kirghiz ranges. Below their confluence the Chu enters the Issyk-Kul’ Basin, where it flows past the lake Issyk-Kul’; during high water, the Chu discharges some of its water into the lake via the Kutemaldy Arm. After passing the lake, the river flows through Boam Gorge into the Chu Valley, where it receives numerous tributaries from the surrounding mountains. In its lower course it crosses the desert known as the Muiunkum and disappears in the Ashchikol’ Depression.

The Chu is fed by glaciers and snow, and subsurface drainage plays an important role. The mean flow rate at the place where the river emerges from the mountains (area of drainage basin, approximately 25,000 sq km) is 130 cu m per sec; maximum flow is in July and August. The lower course dries up in late July or early August, but the flow of water resumes in December. From November to April there is some ice in the upper course, which freezes over only occasionally and usually for about ten days; the lower course is frozen over from December to March. The main tributaries are the Chon-Kemin, Yrgaity, and Kakpatas on the right and the Alamedin, Aksu, and Kuragaty on the left. The Orto-Tokoi Reservoir and three water-raising dams are on the Chu. There are also numerous irrigation canals; 55 percent of the river’s water is used for irrigation. The cities of Tokmak and Chu are situated on the Chu.