Definition of "Artux"

From Urumqi to Kashgar buses take an average of three or four days to cover 940 miles passing through Turpan, Korla, Kuche, Aksu and Artux.

1985, Brian Schwartz, China Off the Beaten Track‎, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 5

We drove west on the smooth highway for about two hundred kilometres and arrived in Artux (Artush) County. This area has more abundant water resources than Aksu Prefecture. We crossed bridges several times on the way and also saw small rippling lakes that the local people call haizi. We had already entered the most fertile area in southern Xinjiang. Not far from Artux is Kashi, the largest city in southern Xinjiang, but to retrace the route where the Silk Road left China, we did not go to Kashi first. Instead we went west from Artux for some hundred kilometres and arrived in Wuqia County near China's westernmost tip.

1989, Che Muqi (车慕奇), 丝绸之路今昔 [The Silk Road, Past and Present]‎, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, pages 242–243

Eric Shipton, Britain's final representative in Kashgar and an accomplished mountaineer, failed several times from the southern route via Muk and Mingyol, finally gaining access from the north via Artux and Karakum.

2012, Simon Foster, Candice Lee, Jen Lin-Liu, Beth Reiber, Tini Tran, Lee Wing-sze, Christopher D. Winnan, Frommer's China‎, 5th edition, John Wiley & Sons, page 325