The region connects with Tibet with the Karakorum Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains in the south and borders on India and Kashmir region under Pakistan??s actual control in southeast and goes deep into the heartland of the Taklimakan desert. Hotan city, as seat of the administrative agency, is 1513 kilometers (based on highway mileage) away from Urumqi via a desert road. Under its administration are one city and seven counties. In its territory, there are 17 regiment farms under Xinjiang construction and production corps and Hotan farm administration. As well as Nur Ranch and Dushan Farm. It has a population of 1,665,000 (1,610,000 for ethnic minorities), the tilled land of 172,900 hectares, sown grain area (including re-sown area) of 142,500 hectares, sown cash crops area of 62,900 hectares, belonging to temperate continental arid climate.

 The main fruits are walnut and almond. The total river run-off is 88.2 hundred million cubic meters and exploitable underground water volume comes to 23.63 hundred million cubic meters. The natural forest area is 173,900 hectares, man-made forest preserved area 97,000 hectares, natural pastureland area 2,501,900 hectares and its exploitable area 1,967,300 hectares. The rare animals are wild yak, Tibet wild donkey, chiru, bharal and snow cock and main medicinal plants are Chistanche salsa, Saussurea involucrate, Ephedra sinica, licorice, cynomorium songaricum and wolfberry. The mineral resources are mainly jade, coal, salt, oil, gypsum, mica and marble, of which jade is the most famous.