In the Late Qing dynasty, the area that would become Karakax County was divided into four ming : Hayashi, Buhua, Makuiya, and Kuiya. On the eve of the creation of the county, the area was divided into six ming : Zhawa, Ying'ai , Balamusu, Kuiya, Makuiya, and Ka'ersai 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 was changed from a township into a town. In 2013, Kuya was changed from a township into a town. On February 13, 2014, Qarasaz 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. 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. 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 and width from east to width is. 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 five towns, 11 townships and two other areas, in total 18 township-level divisions : Towns:
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 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 enters the Taklamakan Desert northwest of Dunkule village in Kawak township. The road turns near a ridge and terminates near buildings. The area is near Mazar Tagh.
