Artush (/ɑːrˈtʊʃ/ ar-TUUSH; 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°41′33.46″N 76°7′25.88″E / 39.6926278°N 76.1238556°E / 39.6926278; 76.1238556) was removed. In recent times other mosques have been taken down too.

The Artush City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Artush is one of the Xinjiang re-education camps.

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 (55.6 °F) and the annual mean precipitation around 95 millimetres or 3.74 inches. 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:

Name	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Uyghur (UEY)	Uyghur Latin (ULY)	Kyrgyz (Arabic script)	Kyrgyz (Cyrillic script)	Administrative division code
Subdistricts
Xingfu Road Subdistrict (Bext Road Subdistrict)	幸福路街道	Xìngfúlù Jiēdào	بەخت يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى	bext yoli kocha bashqarmisi	باقىت جولۇ كۅچۅ باشقارماسى	Бакыт жолу көчө башкармасы	653001001
Guangming Road Subdistrict (Nurluq Road Subdistrict)	光明路街道	Guāngmínglù Jiēdào	نۇرلۇق يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى	nurluq yoli kocha bashqarmisi	نۇرلۇق جولۇ كۅچۅ باشقارماسى	Нурлук жолу көчө башкармасы	653001002
Xincheng Subdistrict	新城街道	Xīnchéng Jiēdào	يېڭى شەھەر كوچا باشقارمىسى	yëngi sheher kocha bashqarmisi	جاڭى شاار كۅچۅ باشقارماسى	Жаңы шаар көчө башкармасы	653001003
Towns
Ustun Atush Town (Shang'atushi)	上阿图什镇	Shàng'ātúshí Zhèn	ئۈستۈن ئاتۇش بازىرى	Üstün Atush baziri	جوعورقۇ ارتىش شاارچاسى	Жогорку Артыш шаарчасы	653001100
Süntag Town	松他克镇	Sōngtākè Zhèn	سۇنتاغ بازىرى	suntagh baziri	سۇنتاق شاارچاسى	Сунтак шаарчасы	653001101
Azak Town	阿扎克镇	Āzhākè Zhèn	ئازاق بازىرى	Azaq baziri			653001102
Townships
Agu Township	阿湖乡	Āhú Xiāng	ئاغۇ يېزىسى	Aghu yëzisi			653001102
Katyaylak Township	格达良乡	Gédáliáng Xiāng	كاتتايلاق يېزىسى	kattaylaq yëzisi	كەتتئيلئك ايىلى	Кеттийлек айылы	653001104
Karajül Township (Karajol Township)	哈拉峻乡	Hālājùn Xiāng	قاراجول يېزىسى	qarajol yëzisi	قاراجۉل ايىلى	Кара-Жүл айылы	653001105
Tugurmiti Township	吐古买提乡	Tǔgǔmǎití Xiāng	تۈگۈرمىتى يېزىسى	tügürmiti yëzisi	تەگىرمەتى ايىلى	Тегирмети айылы	653001106

Other:

• Red Flag Farm of 3rd Division, XPCC (兵团农三师红旗农场)

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.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
2000	200,345	—
2010	240,368	+1.84%
2015	269,317	+2.30%
2018	285,507	+1.96%
Sources:

As of 1997, 81.5% of the population of Artush was Uyghur.

As of 1999, 79.68 per cent of the population of Artush were Uyghur and 7.21 per cent of the population were Han Chinese.

As of 2015, 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.

As of 2018, the population of Artush was 285,507.

Ethnic composition of Artush City, 2018 Nationality Percentage Uyghurs   81.4% Kyrgyz   11.0% Han   7.3% Hui   0.1% Others   0.2% Source:

Transportation

Artush is served by the Southern Xinjiang Railway.

Notable people

• Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan
• Sabit Damolla, Prime Minister of the First East Turkestan Republic
• Saifuddin Azizi, first Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
• Ghulam Osman Yaghma, 4th President of the East Turkestan Government-in-Exile
• Anwar Yusuf Turani
• Ilham Tohti
• Salih Hudayar

Historical maps

Historical English-language maps including Artush:

• 
  Map including Artush A-t'u-shih (DMA, 1983)
• 
  Map including Artush (labeled as A-T'U-SHIH (ARTUSH)) (AMS, 1966)
• 
  From the Operational Navigation Chart; map including Artush (A-t'u-shih) (DMA, 1980)
• 
  Map including Artush (A-t'u-shih) (DMA, 1984)