Karakax County

Karakax County, alternatively Moyu County, also transliterated from Uyghur as Qaraqash County , alternately Qaraqash, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is located in the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, it is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. It contains an area of 25667 km2. According to the 2011 census it has a population of 577,000 and 98,1% are Uyghurs. The county is bordered to the north by Awat County in Aksu Prefecture, to the northeast by Lop County, to the southeast by Hotan County, to the northwest by Maralbexi County in Kashgar Prefecture, and to the southwest by Pishan County and Kunyu. Exclaves of Kunyu are located within the 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.

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.

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
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).