Payzawat County


Payzawat County, also via SASM/GNC romanization as Payziwat County, and via Mandarin Chinese as Jiashi County is a county in Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, on the western rim of the Taklamakan Desert. To the east, the county borders Maralbexi County, to the south Yopurga County.

Name

Payzawat means 'beautiful land of plenty'.
The name of the region is also transliterated as Faizabad.

History

Peyziwat County was established in July 1902.
In 1981 there was a brief pro-independence rebellion in the county staged by Uyghur activists.
Between 1997-2003 there were a series of deadly earthquakes in the county.
On October 20, 2014, Shaptul was changed from a township to a town.
On the night of January 19, 2020, a strong earthquake damaged buildings and seriously injured at least one person in the county.

Administrative divisions

Payzawat County includes six towns, seven townships, and one other area:
Towns
Townships
Others
The system of irrigation is well-developed. Agricultural products include wheat, corn, sorghum, cotton and muskmelon. Animal herding is also common, primarily sheep. Specialities of the county include the 'Payzawat melon' and white grapes without pits. Industries include tractors, electronics, leather making, construction, and cotton and melon processing.

Demographics

As of 2015, 437,073 of the 445,846 residents of the county were Uyghur, 8,342 were Han Chinese, 431 were from other ethnic groups.
, Uyghurs made up 98.9% of the county's population.
As of 1999, 96.46% of the population of Payzawat County was Uyghur and 3.52% of the population was Han Chinese.
In 1997, Uyghurs made up 97.2% of the county's population.

Transportation

Historical English-language maps including Payzawat: