Yutian County ( zh, s=于田县), also transliterated from Uyghur as Keriya County (; zh, s=克里雅县), is a county in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It is based at the Keriya Town, and is separate from Hotan County, which is another county in the same prefecture. The Yutian County has an area of . According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 220,000. The county is bounded on the north by Aksu Prefecture, on the east by Minfeng/Niya County, on the west by Qira County and on the south by the Rutog and Gertse counties of the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

Name

The county derives its Chinese name from the Kingdom of Khotan. The name was written as '' at that time. This was later changed to '' (literally, Jade Field) following the adoption of

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

and eventually to '' in 1959. The three names have a similar pronunciation in

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 ...

. "Keriya", the Latin transliteration of the Uyghur name for the county, is derived from the name of the Keriya River. Yutian County is dubbed the "Home of Jade".

History

The ancient name of Keriya was Yumi (扜彌, Gyuymi, Umi). The name Yumi was used by the Chinese envoy Zhang Qian in his 125 BCE report on his embassy's travels. Yutian County () was formed in 1882, its administrative center was Karakash, and Keriya was only a post station. In 1885, the administrative center of the county was moved to Keriya. Aurel Stein travelled along the Keriya River in his early 20th century expeditions in the region. In 1920, the area was part of ''Hotan Dao'' (). In 1950, the area was part of ''Hotan Special Area'' (). In 1959, the Chinese character name for the county was set as ''. In 1977, the area became part of Hotan Prefecture. In November 1980, the Yutian hydroelectric plant, located on the Keriya River, went into operation. On March 21, 2008, the county was at the epicenter of a 7.1/7.3 magnitude earthquake. In February 2014, the county was at the epicenter of the 6.8 magnitude 2014 Yutian earthquake. No injuries or deaths were reported. In 2018, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' reported that the Yutian county vocational training centre, among the largest of the Xinjiang internment camps, had opened a forced labour facility including eight factories spanning shoemaking, mobile phone assembly and tea packaging, giving a base monthly salary of ¥1,500 ($220). Between 2016 and 2018, the centre expanded 269 percent in total area. In 2018, Regiment 225 (, part of Kunyu, was listed as part of the county.

Administrative divisions

Yutian county includes two towns and thirteen townships:

Climate

Economy

The county is known for its production of

jade Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is often referred to by either of two different silicate mineral names: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in t ...

. Agriculture and livestock farming in the county produces corn, wheat, rice, cotton, grapes and melons. Industries in the county include jade mining, cotton ginning, tractor repair and preserved fruit processing.

Demographics

As of 2015, 277,206 of the 282,182 residents of the county were Uyghur, 4,678 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 298 were from other ethnic groups. In the late 2010s, Uyghurs made up 98.3% of the population of the county. As of 1999, 98.56% of the population of Keriya (Yutian) County was Uyghur and 1.37% of the population was

Transportation

* China National Highway 315 * Yutian Wanfang Airport * Yutian railway station on Hotan–Ruoqiang railway

Notable persons

* Kurban Tulum, promoted by the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

as a symbol of unity with the Uyghurs

Gallery

File:Johnson-journey-ilchi1865-mapa.jpg, Map including Kiriá (1865) File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nj-44-3rd-ed.jpg, Map including Yutian (labeled as YÜ-TIEN (KERIYA) (YÜ-T'IEN)) and surrounding region in the International Map of the World ( USATC, 1971) File:NJ-44-15 Yu-Tien China.jpg, Map including Keriya (labeled as YÜ-TIEN (YUT'IEN) ( ATC, 1971) File:Txu-oclc-6654394-ni-44-3rd-ed.jpg, Map including the southern part of Yutian/Keriya County and the county's border with Tibet ( AMS, 1950) File:Operational Navigation Chart G-7, 6th edition.jpg, Map including Yutian (labeled as YUTIAN (YÜ-T'IEN)) and surrounding region ( DMA, 1980)