Shule originally referred to Kashgar's new city, built by Han Chinese settlers, located 6 miles (9.7 km) from the old one.

[6] Shule may have been an attempt by the Chinese to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti (lit.

On May 31, 2012, Sidik Kurban was sentenced by Shule County Intermediate People's Court to fifteen years in jail and five years deprivation of political rights for 'inciting ethnic separatism' related to involvement in 'illegal religious activities'.

For a decade, he had overseen home-based religious schools for eighty-six students.

[13] As of 2015, 350,301 of the 377,029 residents of the county were Uyghur, 25,709 were Han Chinese and 1,019 were from other ethnic groups.