Hotan(Khotan) also called Hetian in Chinese. The ancient name of Hotan was Yutian. It is located at the very southern end of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Northern part of Hotan prefecture goes deep into the Taklamakan Desert (second largest shifting desert in the world). South and southwest of Hotan prefecture is surrounded by Karakurum and Kunlun mountain range. It borders with Tibet autonomous region, Gansu province, Qinghai province to the south, India and Kashmir to the southwest.

Hotan is a prefecture which consist of one city and seven counties. The whole Hotan prefecture covered an area is 247,800sqkm. Population of Hotan prefecture is 2.1million people. Around 96 percent of it is population is consisting of Uyghur people. Total 12 nationalities living in Hotan prefecture.

The Hotan city is an administration center of Hotan prefecture. Hotan cities covered an area is189 sq km; population of the city is 200 thousand people living in Hotan city. The average height of Hotan city is 1,372 meters above the sea level. The city of Hotan prefecture is 1987 km from Urumqi, the Capital city of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region.

Hotan Weather

Hotan prefecture is located in the warm temperature zone, dominated by a dry continental desert climate; hot in summer and not too cold in winter; great temperature disparity between day and night with little rainfall and a high evaporation rate; frost-free of 182 and 226 days a year; an average sunshine time of 2470.4 to 2875.9 hours annually. The average temperature of the year is 11-12.1 C. The average rainfall for the year is 28.9 to 47.1mm. Hotan famous for it’s carpet, jade, silk Atlas and traditional Uyghur doctoring.

Hotan Yearly Average Temperature by Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average Maximum Temperature (ºC) 0.8 5.4 15.2 23.3 27.5 31.0 32.6 31.6 26.9 20.2 10.6 2.3
Average Temperature(ºC) -4.8 -0.2 8.8 16.4 20.6 23.9 25.4 24.4 19.7 12.5 3.9 -3.4
Average Minimum Temperature (ºC) -9.6 -4.9 2.9 10.0 14.3 17.5 19.1 18.2 13.3 5.9 -1.4 -7.8
Rainfall  (mm) 1.3 2.2 0.8 2.7 7.1 7.2 5.4 3.0 2.3 1.0 0.3 0.8

Hotan Attractions

Hotan Map