Artush (also transliterated as Artux or Atush ) is a county-level city and the capital of Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. The government seat is in Guangming Road Subdistrict. As of 2018, it has a population of 285,507 people, 81.4 per cent of whom are Uyghurs.

History

In January 1943, Artush County was established. In June 1986, Artush County became Artush City. In 2018, the dome of Eshtachi Mosque (39.69263°N, 76.12386°W) was removed. In recent times other mosques have been taken down too. At 10:23 pm on January 19, 2020, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck in Artush.

Geography and climate

It is situated in the northwest part of the Tarim Basin, south of the Tien Shan mountains. Like most of Xinjiang, Artush has a cool arid climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers, freezing winters and little precipitation and low humidity year-round. The annual mean temperature is 13.1 C and the annual mean precipitation around 95 mm. Most of this limited precipitation falls from erratic thunderstorms in the summer months, although at this time relative humidity averages less than 35 percent.

Administrative divisions

Artush includes three subdistricts, one town, six townships and one other area: Other:

Economy

Artush's economy is primarily agriculture, the agricultural products are mainly cotton, grapes, and sheep. Industries in Artush include salt-making, cotton-ginning, food processing and cooking oil processing. Agricultural products include wheat, corn, sorghum, sesame, rice and others, and the local specialty is the common fig. Sheep are the main livestock in Artush. The Artush City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Artush has served as one of the Xinjiang internment camps.

Demographics

, 81.5% of the population of Artush was Uyghur. , 79.68 per cent of the population of Artush were Uyghur and 7.21 per cent of the population were Han Chinese. , 216,651 (80.44%) of the 269,317 residents of Artush were Uyghurs, 30,174 (11.20%) were Kyrgyz, 21,754 (8.08%) were Han Chinese and 738 were from other ethnic groups. , the population of Artush was 285,507.

Transportation

Artush is served by the Southern Xinjiang Railway.

Notable people

Historical maps

Historical English-language maps including Artush: