| Yinchuan is capital of the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningxia, remotely stationed in the northwest of China, between the rolling grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the east and the mountains and deserts of Gansu to the west. This region, the smallest in China, is little visited and little known about, making trips here an interesting and hard experience. Ningxia is poor and would have been almost uninhabitable, with its harsh climate and remote location, but for the grimy Yellow River (Huang he) and the irrigation channels built in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), that support the population.
Of the around 4 million people that presently reside in Ningxia, a third are composed of the Muslim Hui Minority, and 930,000 of the total live in the city of Yinchuan. Historically this city came to fame in the Western Xia Period (1038-1237 AD), when the founder of the kingdom, Li Yuanhao, established the city as his capital. The city is a pleasant area, with many green areas and a vibrant atmosphere, originally chosen because it was well protected by the Helan Mountain Range (Helan shan) to the north and well supplied by the Yellow River to the southeast.
Nowadays the city is well spread out, with the New City (Xincheng) in the east of little interest beyond holding the railway station and for its proximity to the airport. The Old City (Laocheng) to the west, is green and peaceful, containing all of the sights and the best hotels. Travellers, however, are not really here for the man-made sights, but for the remote beauty of a province that is little populated and certainly off the beaten track. Hiking in mountainous areas, camping in deep woods, riding over sand dunes and rafting the turbulent Yellow River are the ideal reasons for visiting this autonomous region. |
