Karakax County

History

In the Late Qing dynasty, the area that would become Karakax County was divided into four ming (明) (Mandarin Chinese Hanyu Pinyin-derived names): Hayashi (哈雅什明), Buhua (布華明), Makuiya (馬奎牙明), and Kuiya (奎牙明). On the eve of the creation of the county, the area was divided into six ming (明): Zhawa (扎瓦明), Ying'ai (英愛明) (also known as Tahe (塔合明)), Balamusu (巴拉木蘇明), Kuiya (奎牙明), Makuiya (馬奎牙明), and Ka'ersai (喀爾賽明).

In 1919, the county was split off from Hotan County.

In October 1984, the people's communes in the county were replaced with towns and townships.

In 2012, Zawa (Zhawa) was changed from a township into a town.

In 2013, Kuya (Kuiya) was changed from a township into a town.

On February 13, 2014, Qarasaz (Ka'ersai) was changed from a township into a town.

On the morning of June 20, 2014, five police officers at a security checkpoint in Kayash village in Manglay township were found dead killed by unknown assailants. The security checkpoint, known as a place where women wearing headscarves and men wearing beards would be interrogated, was razed to the ground.

At 3 AM on July 19, 2014, the day after a raid at a local mosque, Zeynep Memtimin, wife of party secretary Rejep Islam, was killed by unknown assailants in an attack at their home. Islam was severely injured and left for dead, but survived.

In December 2016, the Communist Party office in Karakax County was reportedly attacked by assailants using knives and improvised explosive devices, leading to the deaths of two government employees and three assailants.

In 2017, the county was divided between four and later five main district area committees (大片区管委会).

In May 2017, Abduheber Ahmet, the imam of the Dongbagh Mosque in Urchi township, was arrested for bringing his son to an underground religious school on one occasion several years before the arrest. Because Ahmet admitted that the events took place, Ahmet was sentenced to five and a half years in prison instead of seven years.{{cite web |author-link=Shohret Hoshur |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510235805/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/imam-05102018155405.html |archive-date=May 10, 2018

In February 2020 dissidents leaked the hacked records of 311 detained Uyghurs from a single neighborhood in Karakax County.

Geography

The populated part of Karakax county is located at the northern edge of the Karakoram mountains and southern part of Tarim Basin (Taklamakan Desert). The Karakax river separates the county from Hotan County and the Hotan River separates the county from Lop County. The length from south to north is 320 km and width from east to width is 51 km. Mazartag is a prominent arc-shaped mountain range in the northern desert area of the county.

File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nj-44-3rd-ed.jpg|Map including Karakax (labeled as MO-YÜ (KARAKASH)) and surrounding region (USATC, 1971) File:NJ-44-2 K'O-P'A-CHIA-LO-K'O China.jpg|Map including part of northern Karakax (Moyu) County (ATC, 1971) File:Johnson-journey-ilchi1865-mapa.jpg|Map including Kárakásh (1865)

Climate

|Jan record high C = 21. |Jan record low C = -22.5 |Feb record high C = 22.1 |Feb record low C = -22.3 |Mar record high C = 31.0 |Mar record low C = -8.8 |Apr record high C = 35.5 |Apr record low C = -0.5 |May record high C = 37.5 |May record low C = 2.9 |Jun record high C = 39.9 |Jun record low C = 8.3 |Jul record high C = 40.7 |Jul record low C = 10.5 |Aug record high C = 39.2 |Aug record low C = 7.9 |Sep record high C = 35.3 |Sep record low C = 2.4 |Oct record high C = 29.9 |Oct record low C = -5.9 |Nov record high C = 26.0 |Nov record low C = -13.5 |Dec record high C = 18.8 |Dec record low C = -21.7

Administrative divisions

Karakax county is subdivided into the following 5 towns and 11 townships:

Economy

The county produces cotton, corn, wheat, melons, silkworm cocoons, black jade and walnuts. Industries include cotton ginning, food processing, tractors and carpet making.

Demographics

|2000|405634 |2010|500114 |}} As of 2015, Uyghurs made up 97.61% of the population of the county. Han Chinese made up 2.34% of the population.

As of 1999, 98.53% of the population of Karakax (Moyu) County was Uyghur and 1.44% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

Karakax county has daily bus and taxi to Hotan and other counties like Guma, and also has direct luxury buses to Ürümchi, which is the capital city of Xinjiang, Karakax is also served by China National Highway 315 and the Kashgar-Hotan Railway.

A long, straight special-use road (专用道) enters the Taklamakan Desert northwest of Dunkule village (墩库勒村) in Kawak (Kawake) township. The road turns near a ridge and terminates near buildings. The area is near Mazar Tagh (Ma-cha-t'a-ko, Mazartag; مازار تاغ / 麻扎塔格戌堡遗址).

Notes

References

References

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12. link. (13 February 2018). zh-hans. 1984年，和田地区各县市撤社建乡，政社分开。1984年10月，墨玉县实行社改乡制，撤销人民公社，建立乡镇，成立乡镇人民政府和党委；撤销大队、生产队，建立村民委员会、村民小组。墨玉县下辖1镇16乡。{...}2012～2014年，墨玉县陆续开展撤乡建镇，先后成立扎瓦镇、奎雅镇和喀尔赛镇3个镇。{...}2017年5月，墨玉县新建4个片区管委会，即第一、第二、第三、第四片区管委会（其乃巴格街道、斯孜街道、波斯坦街道以及城区新拆分管委会）；同月，新建11个社区（没有编办成立文件）。每个片区管委会下辖8个社区，224团社区单独设立，不隶属于新建的4个片区管委会。 2017年6月，墨玉县委将全县划分为5个大片区管委会，下辖31个乡镇、街道、园区和拆分的小管委会。第一大片区管委会下辖1个乡镇、3个街道和1个管委会。第二片区管委会下辖4个乡镇、4个管委会。第三大片区管委会下辖3个乡镇、2个管委会。第四大片区管委会下辖4个乡镇和3个管委会。第五大片区管委会下辖4个乡镇和2个管委会。 截至2017年7月，墨玉县辖5个大片区管委会，大片区管委会下辖4镇12乡12个管委会362个行政村，4个片区管委会33个社区。
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