Kargilik County


Kargilik County ; from Mandarin Chinese Yecheng County, is a county in southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Kashgar Prefecture. It contains an area of 28,600 km². To the north, the county borders Makit County. To the east, the county borders Guma County in Hotan Prefecture. To the west, the county borders Yarkant County, Poskam County and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County. In the south, the county has a border of more than with Pakistan and India administered areas of Kashmir.

History

In 1975, future Communist Party of China Deputy Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Zhu Hailun was sent to Kargilik County in the Down to the Countryside Movement.
On August 20, 2013, a raid by police on a group of Uyghurs suspected of terrorism and illegal religious activities in Yilkiqi lead to fifteen or more deaths.
According to Radio Free Asia, in June 2016, five persons in the county who were encouraging others to fast for Ramadan were taken away by plainclothes police.
Satellite images revealed that between September 2018 and April 2019, a mosque in Kargilik County was demolished.

Geography

The northern part of the county is in the Taklamakan Desert and the southern part of the county is in the Kunlun Mountains. Mazar Pass is located in the southern part of the county.

Administrative divisions

Town
Township
Others
Kargilik County's economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry. Agricultural products include wheat, corn and cotton, as well as pomegranates, yellow pears, walnuts, and dried apricots. Industries include construction, machinery, electronics, and food processing. The county is known for the 'Kargilik Banximao Sheep'.

Demographics

In 1997, Uyghurs made up 93% of the population of the county and Han Chinese made up 6% of the population.
As of 2015, 490,417 of the 519,962 residents of the county were Uyghur, 23,408 were Han Chinese and 6,137 were from other ethnic groups.
, Uyghurs made up 91% of the population of the county.
As of 1999, 90.78% of the population of Kargilik County was Uyghur and 8.18% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

Historical English-language maps including Kargilik:

Notelist