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'Ningxia' (; Postal map spelling: Ningsia), full name 'Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region' (), is a Hui autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located on the northwest Loess highland, the Yellow River flows through a vast area of its land. The capital of the region is Yinchuan.

Contents

History

Geography

Climate

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Economy

Tourism

Notes

Images

External links

History

Ningxia and its surrounding areas were incorporated into the Qin Dynasty as early as the third century BC. Throughout the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty there were further settlements, and by the eleventh century the Tangut tribe had established the Western Xia Dynasty on the outskirts of the then Song Dynasty.
It then came under Mongol domination after Genghis Khan conquered Yinchuan in the early thirteenth century. After the Mongols departed and its influences faded, Turkic-speaking Muslims slowly began moving into Ningxia from the west. This created unavoidable tensions between the Han and the Hui ethnic groups in the following centuries.
In 1914, Ningxia was merged with the province of Gansu; in 1928, however, it was detached and became a province. Between 1914 and 1928, the Xibei San Ma brothers (literally "three Mas of the northwest") ruled the provinces of Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu. In 1958, Ningxia formally became an autonomous region of China. In 1969, Ningxia's border was extended to the north and acquired parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, but was reverted again in 1979.

Geography

Ningxia borders the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Rivers that flow through Ningxia include the Yellow River.
Ningxia is a relatively dry, desert-like region. There is significant irrigation in order to support the growing of wolfberries (a commonly consumed fruit throughout the region).
Ningxia's deserts include the Tengger desert in Shapotou.
On 16 December 1920 the Haiyuan earthquake, 8.6 magnitude, at , initiated a series of landslides that killed an estimated 200,000 people. Over 600 large loess landslides created more than 40 new lakes.^[1][2]
In 2006, satellite images indicated that a 700 by 200-meter fenced area within Ningxia – 35 km southwest of Yinchuan, near the remote village of Huangyangtan – is a near-exact scaled-down reproduction of a 450 by 350-kilometer area of Aksai Chin bordering India, complete with mountains, valleys, lakes and hills. Its purpose is as yet unknown.^[3][4]

Climate

The region is 1,200 km from the sea and has a continental climate with average summer temperatures rising to between 17 and 24°C in July and average winter temperatures dropping to between -7 and -10°C in January. Seasonal extreme temperatures can reach 39°C in summer and -30°C in winter. The diurnal temperature variation in summer is 17°C. Annual rainfall averages from 190 to 700 millimeters, with more rain falling in the south of the region.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: List of administrative divisions of Ningxia

Ningxia is divided into five prefecture-level cities:

★ Yinchuan (银川), the capital of Ningxia

★ Shizuishan (石嘴山)

★ Zhongwei (中卫)

★ Wuzhong (吴忠)

★ Guyuan (固原)

Demographics

Ningxia is the home of the Hui, one of the officially recognized Chinese minority groups. While some Hui are ethnically indistinguishable from the Han (the major Chinese ethnic group), many Hui retain Central Asian genetic features such as dark skin and lighter-colored eyes in addition to their Islamic clothing. As a stop along the legendary Silk Road, the Hui were influenced by the Islamic traders and became Muslims.

Economy

Ningxia is the province with the second smallest GDP (Tibet being the last) in the PRC. Its nominal GDP in 2004 was just 46.04 billion yuan (US$5.71 billion) and a per capita GDP of 6,640 yuan (US$801). It contributes 0.3% of the national economy.
Ningxia is the principal region of China where wolfberries are grown.

Tourism

One of Ningxia's main tourist spots is the famous Xixia Tombs site located 30 km west of Yinchuan. The remnants of nine Western Xia emperors' tombs and two hundred other tombs lie within a 50-km² area. Other famous sites in Ningxia include Helan Shan, the mysterious 108 dagobas, the twin pagodas of Baisikou and the desert research outpost at Shapatou.

Notes

1. Close, U., and McCormick (1922) "Where the mountains walked" ''National Geographic Magazine'' 41(5): pp.445-464
2. Feng, X. and Guo, A. (1985) "Earthquake landslides in China" In ''Proceedings, IVth International Conference and Field Workshop on Landslides'' pp. 339-346, Japan Landslide Society, Tokyo, OCLC 70324350
3. Haines, Lester (19 July 2006 ) "Chinese black helicopters circle Google Earth" ''The Register''
4. Cassidy, Katherine (13 September 2006) "Armchair Sleuths Uncover Strange Military Sites in China" McClatchy Newspapers / Real Cities Network

Images

External links

★ Ningxia regional government website (simplified Chinese)

★ Large map of Ningxia

★ Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region statistics for 2005 at China.com.cn

★ Article on Wolfberries, with image of fruit from Ningxia being dried in the sun after picking