Almost all the residents of the county are Uyghur and live around oases situated between the desolate Taklamakan Desert and Kunlun Mountains.

[16] The analysis of mtDNA haplogroup distribution showed that the Sampula inhabitants had a large mixture of East Asian, West-Asian and European characteristics.

[14][18][note 1] Archaeologist Aurel Stein visited Rawak Stupa during his First Central Asian expedition in April 1901.

[2][26] In May 1956, Abdimit, a Sufi shaykh from Khotan, attempted to incite insurrection in the county which was put down by armed troops and police forces.

The official confirmed reports that Chinese authorities were continuing a program of heavy religious control and censorship.

[30] On July 11, 2006, the townships of Jiya and Yurungqash (Yulongkashi), then part of Lop County, were transferred to Hotan City.

[2][26] At 9 PM on May 11 and 8:15 AM on May 12, 2015, two suicide bombings at a security checkpoint station in the county resulted in six deaths and four injured.

[36] Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories, a company first registered at the Lop County Beijing Industrial Park (洛浦县北京工业园区) in 2018, employed 5,000 new workers in its first year of business, making 159 international shipments.

At 5,466 m (17,933 ft) above sea level, the highest point in the county is Tekiliktag[40] (Tiekelekeshan, T'ieh-k'o-li-k'o Shan; تەكىلىكتاغ[41] / 铁克勒克山).