This research focused on the Aksu area in the central part of the southern Tianshan. Along the 60 km wide Aksu fold-and-thrust belt, active thrusts reach the surface and offset the youngest sediments. Our research was based on the geomorphologic study that examined the advance and retreat of glaciers cut by thrusts in the Tomur area in the north of Aksu. Our fieldwork revealed that two fault scarps were clearest across three different moraines that represent the maximum of advance of glaciers during three glacial periods along the Tailan River in the Tomur area. The measured heights of the fault scarps that cut the moraines, together with the moraines-inferred age, imply a shortening rate of 1.85 mm/a on the Aksu area since late Pleistocene. This rate, similar to that of the Korla area on its east side and of the Kaping area on its west side, but lower than that of the Kashgar area farther west and of the Manas area in the northern margin of the belt, implies that the distribution of shortening across the Tianshan changed markedly along the mountain.