Current Time in Atush, China

Atush, also written Artux, lies in the far west of China in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, about forty kilometres northeast of Kashgar. It is the administrative seat of the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, and it stands at the northern edge of the Tarim Basin where the arid plain meets the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains. The setting is one of gravel desert, irrigated oasis gardens and bare red ridges, and the climate is severely continental, with very hot dry summers, cold winters and almost no rainfall, so that agriculture depends entirely on meltwater channelled from the mountains.

The population of the city and its surrounding county is around two hundred and fifty thousand. The great majority are Uyghur, with a significant Kyrgyz community, particularly in the high pastures of the prefecture, along with Han Chinese and smaller groups, and the prefecture's name comes from the Kyrgyz words for red water.

Atush occupies an important place in the history of Central Asia. It was here, according to tradition, that Satuq Bughra Khan, the first ruler of the Karakhanid dynasty to embrace Islam in the tenth century, is buried, and his mausoleum outside the town is among the oldest and most venerated Islamic sites in the region. The conversion of the Karakhanids marked a decisive turning point in the religious and cultural history of the Tarim Basin, and the shrine has drawn visitors and scholars for a thousand years.

The oasis lies close to the ancient Silk Road, and Atush merchants were long famous throughout Central Asia for their trading enterprise, travelling to Kokand, Bukhara, Kashmir and beyond. In the early twentieth century local merchant families founded some of the first modern schools in southern Xinjiang, and the town retains a reputation for commerce and education.

Atush is best known within China for its fruit. The oasis produces figs of exceptional quality, and the city is often called the home of the fig, while pomegranates, apricots, grapes and melons also grow in the walled gardens. Markets selling dried fruit, nuts and naan bread are among the liveliest sights, and the local cuisine of pilaf, hand pulled noodles and lamb kebabs is shared with the wider Uyghur world.

The surroundings are spectacular. To the north the Tian Shan rise steeply towards summer pastures used by Kyrgyz herders, and to the west the Karakoram Highway climbs past the Ghez gorge towards Lake Karakul, the glaciers of Muztagh Ata and the Khunjerab Pass into Pakistan, while the Torugart Pass leads to Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar, with its old town, Sunday market and Id Kah mosque, is less than an hour away.

Transport has improved greatly, with expressways, the southern Xinjiang railway and Kashgar's airport all serving the area, and Atush has its own station on the regional line.

Education is provided by secondary and vocational schools, with universities in Kashgar and Urumqi.

Atush is important as the seat of a mountain prefecture, as a historic centre of Islam in China and as a fertile oasis on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert.