The main activities of the residents are livestock breeding and agriculture. The territory of the village includes 1,200 hectares of irrigated land.
According to the 2022 census, the village had a population of 1,426 people. Chon-Tash is located 28 km from the district center - the village of Tyup and 57 km from the city of Karakol. As a result of the administrative-territorial reform, the Chon-Tash rural district became part of the Karkyra rural district, with the administrative center being the village of Taldy-Suu.
Each family here keeps large and small livestock, which provides a decent income.
Local resident Asan Japaev shared a folk legend among the locals about why and under what circumstances the village got its name Chon-Tash (Big Stone).
“The village was founded around the 1860s, at that time the head of a certain area was called Bolush. One of them was Ybyke Bolush. Under him, the Kyrgyz began to settle here, and gradually their numbers increased. On the right side of the village, there is a very large stone, next to which grows a large apricot tree. The locals considered this place a sacred 'mazar' and came here to pray. Many people gathered. When they were thinking about the name of the 'mazar' and the area, they noticed the large stone. From that day on, this settlement has been called 'Chon-Tash',” says Japaev.
Among the famous natives of the village is the writer and poet Mukai Elebaev. He is one of the first enlighteners and the founder of Kyrgyz Soviet professional literature. M. Elebaev is the author of the major novel "Uzok jol" ("Long Way") — the first experience of realistic prose of a polygraphic nature in native literature. In his novel, he wrote about the popular uprising in 1916, as being an orphan, he fled to China with other villagers and returned in 1919. He later graduated from a pedagogical college in Frunze.
M. Elebaev became one of the first Kyrgyz writers to translate works of world and Russian classics into the Kyrgyz language. He translated works by N.V. Gogol, L.A. Tolstoy, fairy tales by A.S. Pushkin, poems by S. Marshak, and his novel "Long Way" was published in Russian and Latvian. During the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered for the front and died in 1944. He is buried in the Pskov region. In the village, in memory of the great writer, translator, and composer, there is a museum where his personal belongings, manuscripts, and more are kept.
