Yopurga County

Yopurga County (Uyghur: يوپۇرغا ناھىيىسى) is a county in northern Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. More than 96% of the residents of the county are Uyghurs and live around oases at the western edge of the desolate Taklamakan Desert. The county is bordered to the north by Jiashi County, to the east by Maralbexi County, to the west by Shule County, to the southwest by Yengisar County and to the south by Yarkant County.

Name
Yopurga County is named for the Yopurga River.

History
In the Qing Dynasty, the area was part of Shule as Yopurga Zhuang (岳普尔湖庄).

In 1940, Yopurga Shezhiju (岳普湖設治局) was created from portions of Shule County, Yengisar County, and Jiashi County. In 1943, Yopurga was made a county.

On October 20, 2014, Terim (Tieremu) Township became Terim Town.

On July 24, 2015, Yekshenbebazar (Yekexian Baibazha) was changed from a township to a town.

Geography
Dawakol (Dawakun) National Desert Park (达瓦昆沙漠旅游风景区) is located in Yopurga County.

Administrative divisions
Yopurga County included 4 towns and 5 townships:

Economy
Agricultural products include wheat, cotton, corn, muskmelon, and oilseed products. Beekeeping is relatively developed. Herding is important, primarily sheep herding. Industries include cotton and hemp processing, food and oil processing, and concrete.

Farmers in the county raise donkeys for meat, milk and donkey-hide gelatin.

In July 1953, Yopurga County was reported to have 87,000 mou of winter and spring wheat.

Demographics
In 1997, Uyghurs made up 94.6% of the county's population.

, the population of Yopurga County was 96.1% Uyghur and 3.9% Han Chinese. As of 2015, 167,860 of the 177,955 residents of the county were Uyghur, 9,801 were Han Chinese and 294 were from other ethnic groups.

As of 1999, 94.68% of the population of Yopurga (Yuepuhu) County was Uyghur and 5.28% of the population was Han Chinese.

Historical maps
Historical English-language maps including modern-day Yopurga County area: