Poskam County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (Posgam, ), also Zepu County ( zh, s=泽普县) 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 ...

. The county is located on the southern bank 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 ...

, also known as the Zarafshān River (). Poskam County is bordered to the north and west across the

Yarkant County Yarkant County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous ...

(Shache) and to the south and east by

Kargilik County Kargilik County (), also known as Yecheng County ( zh, s=叶城县), 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, ...

(Yecheng).

History

In 1921, Poskam County was established. After the Communist takeover, Poskam (Zepu) County was part of Yarkant Prefecture (), which was dissolved and became part of Kashgar Prefecture in June 1956. In 1990, 'unauthorized' mosque construction in Poskam (Zepu) County was reported in the '' Xinjiang Daily''. Chinese

state media State media are typically understood as media outlets that are owned, operated, or significantly influenced by the government. They are distinguished from public service media, which are designed to serve the public interest, operate independent ...

reported that in the early morning of October 24, 1999, two died, two were injured and major property damage was sustained at the Seyli (Saili) Township police office in a terrorist attack. On the morning of March 4, 2004, a fire broke out in the Kalatuzi coal mine killing at least six people. On March 12, 2005, several Uyghur students and their teachers were arrested after a fight with Han Chinese outside Poskam Petroleum No.1 Middle School. As reported by ''

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 ...

'', on August 23, 2013, at least six Uyghurs (possibly twelve) were killed and twenty wounded in a raid carried out by about seventy to eighty armed security personnel on a place in Jigdejay village (Jigedaijiayi; / ), Kuybagh (Kuiyibage) township near the edge of the desert thought to be a 'terrorist' or separatist training camp and munitions center. On August 27, 2018, Tong'an Township was established. (See also:

Kosrap Kosrap Township (, ''Kosrap Yëzisi''; ) is a historic Townships of China, township of Akto County in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It ceased to exist as a township and its territory was amalgamated to Qarlung, Qarlung Townshi ...

) In 2018, Poskam County was among ten counties in Xinjiang named by the Ministry of Commerce as a model rural e-commerce county. The county was also listed as the only county in Kashgar Prefecture reaching the standard for a national-level public sanitation county. In 2019,

China National Petroleum Corp The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) () is a major national oil and gas corporation of China and one of the largest integrated energy groups in the world. Its headquarters are in Dongcheng District, Beijing. CNPC was ranked fourth ...

announced plans to close Taxinan refinery ().

Geography

The county is between 1215 and 1490 meters above sea level. The land is flat and soil is fertile. Rainfall amounts are low.

Climate

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 ...

, 10

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

, 1 ethnic township, and 2 township-level divisions:

Economy

Irrigation is well-developed in the county, and the county is an important producer of wheat, rice, corn and cotton in southern Xinjiang. Grapes are a local speciality. Industries include mining, machinery, construction and cotton-spinning. As of 2017, Poskam County had 42,405.25 hectares of

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

. On January 14–15, 2020, Kashgar Prefecture officials carried out fourteen lectures in Poskam County on scientific methods of agriculture attended by more than 12,000 persons.

Tourism

A tourist attraction located in the county is Jinhuyang National Forest Park, rated as a

AAAAA Tourist Attractions of China AAAAA () is awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, given the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2025, there are 359 tourist ...

according to the official classification for tourist sights.

Demographics

As of the end of 2016, 175,686 (84.1%) of the 208,950 residents of the county were

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 ...

, 27,131 (13%) 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 ...

, 4,463 (2.1%) were Mountain Tajik (China), and 1,670 (0.8%) were from other ethnic groups. As of 2015, 181,256 of the 223,694 residents of the county were Uyghur, 35,950 were Han Chinese, 4,452 were Mountain Tajik (China) and 2,036 were from other ethnic groups. As of the 2000 Census, ethnic minorities made up 79.38% of the population of Poskam County. As of 1999, 75.29% of the population of Poskam (Zepu) County was Uyghur and 20.76% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

Poskam is served by

China National Highway 315 Constructed in 1954, the Qinghai-Xinjiang Highway, also known as the China National Highway 315 (G315) runs west from Xining, Qinghai towards Kashgar, Xinjiang. It is in length. In 1994 the departments of communication and transportation in Qing ...

and the Kashgar-Hotan Railway.

Historical maps

File:STANFORD(1917) p61 PLATE19. SINKIANG (14597194848).jpg, Map including Poskam (labeled as Posgambasar) (1917) File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nj-43-5th-ed.jpg, Map including Zepu (labeled as TSE-P'U (POSGAM)) and surrounding region from the

International Map of the World The International Map of the World (IMW; also the Millionth Map of the World, after its scale of 1:1000000) was a project to create a complete map of the world according to internationally agreed standards. It was first proposed by the German g ...

(

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...

, 1966) File:NJ-43-8 Shache, China.jpg, Map including Poskam (labeled as ZEPU TSE-P'U) ( DMA, 1980) File:Operational Navigation Chart G-7, 6th edition.jpg, From the Operational Navigation Chart; map including Poskam (labeled as Zepu (Tse-p'u)) ( DMA, 1980) File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 g-7a.jpg, Map including Poskam (labeled as Zepu (Tse-p'u)) ( DMA, 1984)

Notes

References

{{authority control County-level divisions of Xinjiang Kashgar Prefecture