Makit County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is a county in

Kashgar Prefecture Kashgar, also known as Kashi, is a prefecture located in southwestern Xinjiang, China, located in the Tarim Basin region (roughly the southern half of Xinjiang). It has an area of and 4,496,377 inhabitants at the 2020 census with a population d ...

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It contains an area of . The

Yarkand River The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung ...

passes through the county. The county is bordered to the north by

Maralbexi County Maralbexi County (Maralbeshi, Maralbishi, transliterated from ; zh, c=玛热勒巴什县), Bachu County ( zh, c=巴楚县), and zh, c=巴尔楚克县) the former long Chinese name as well, is located in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Au ...

, to the east by Guma County (Pishan) in

Hotan Prefecture Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (see also #Etymology, § Etymology) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to t ...

, to the west by Yarkant County, and to the south by Kargilik County.

Name

The name of the county is also transliterated from

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

as Markit,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Mekit and Merket, and from

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

as Maigaiti (Mai-kai-t'i, Maikaiti).

History

In 1928, Makit County was created as part of Kashgar Circuit (). In 2002, 240 Tajik (China) households displaced from Taxkorgan reclaimed a desert village in the county. In early 2011, a Uyghur butcher in Makit County and six friends were arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a Han Chinese prostitute. As part of the policies of Chen Quanguo, 61 convenience police stations were being built in the county in 2016. In August 2018, a 10-year-old boy whose parents were detained in the Xinjiang internment camps drowned in the Zerepshan River. According to an anonymous Uyghur local government employee quoted in a

Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a news service that publishes online news, information, commentary and broadcasts radio programs for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of pro ...

article, during

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

2020 (April 23 to May 23), residents of the county were told they could face punishment for

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

including being sent to an internment camp.

Climate

The number of days of dusty/sandy weather per annum in Makit County has dropped from 106 in 2010 to 40 in 2018. Over the same period, annual rainfall increased from to per year.

Administrative divisions

The county includes 2

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and 8 townships.

Economy

The county has a highly developed irrigation system. Agricultural products of the county include cotton, corn, wheat, flax, melons, and sugar beet. The livestock industry is strong. Local specialities include dried apricot and raisins. Industries include coal mining, tractor manufacture, construction, textiles, etc.

Demographics

As of 2015, 225,608 of the 272,010 residents of the county were

, 45,241 were

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

and 1,161 were from other ethnic groups. As of 1999, 78.36% of the population of Makit (Markit, Maigaiti) County was Uyghur and 21.43% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

* Sanchakou–Yarkant Expressway

Historical maps

Historical English-language maps including Makit: File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nj-43-5th-ed.jpg, Map including Makit (labeled as MAI-KAI-T'I (MERKET)) and surrounding region from the International Map of the World ( AMS, 1966) File:NJ-43-8 Shache, China.jpg, Map including Makit (labeled as MARKIT (MAI-KAI-T'I)) ( DMA, 1980) File:Operational Navigation Chart G-7, 6th edition.jpg, From the Operational Navigation Chart; map including Makit (labeled as Markit (Mai-kai-t'i))( DMA, 1980) File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 g-7a.jpg, Map including Makit (labeled as Markit (Mai-kai-t'i)) ( DMA, 1984)

Notes

References

External links

Sandstorm Affects Traffic during May Day Holiday in Northwest China Counties
(Local traffic police direct traffic at major road sections in the county during a sandstorm) {{authority control County-level divisions of Xinjiang Kashgar Prefecture