Hotan County (formerly known as "Hotan", renamed "Hotan" in 1959) was once called Huodan, Wuduan and Hutan, all of which are different translations of the same name. First, it comes from Khotan, which is the name of ancient Yuchi tribe. It is Tibetan, meaning "Yuyi". It means "fence", "livestock pen", or "bunker" in Hindi. The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty is called Qu Satana, which means "earth milk" in Sanskrit. In 1959, Hotan was simplified to Hotan. By the end of 2019, the registered residence population of Hotan County was 355285.

Hotan County is located in the southwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, bordering the Yulongkash River in the east and Luopu County, bordering the Karakash River in the west and facing Moyu County and Pishan County across the river, bordering the actual control line of Kashmir in India in the southwest, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region in the southeast, and bordering Awati in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert in the north. The length from north to south is about 500 kilometers, and the width from east to west is 20-150 kilometers. The administrative area is 41080 square kilometers.

Hotan County is located in the south of the Tarim Basin, and is famous for its rich jade. It is located near the snowline of the upper reaches of the Haniyayilac River in Heishan, Hotan County, with an altitude of about 5000 meters. The valley in this section is one of the main areas where jade has been collected for thousands of years. It produces famous white jade, black jade and jade.

In 2019, Hotan County's GDP was 4245.88 million yuan, the added value of the primary industry was 1194.64 million yuan, the added value of the secondary industry was 812.75 million yuan, the general public budget revenue was 323.35 million yuan, and the general public budget expenditure was 648.152 million yuan.

On September 25, 2018, it was awarded the honorary title of "2018 Comprehensive Demonstration County of E-commerce in Rural Areas" by the Ministry of Commerce. On January 24, 2020, the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region agreed to withdraw Hotan County from the poverty-stricken county sequence.