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China Travel Guide » Places in China » Ningxia Province
Places in China: Ningxia Province
The twenty-seventh largest province in China is also called Ningxia Autonomous Region and is bounded by Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. In the northeast part of the country, a portion of the Tengger Desert is located here, bringing unpleasant storms to the province.
The province is largely dry by nature so the irrigation routes through the agricultural portions are effective in helping Ningxia to be second only to Tibet in producing China's GDP. Agriculture and livestock-raising are the most important industries in the province.
The province is home territory to one-sixth of China's Hui population. They make up twenty percent of the province's people with the Han population in Ningxia at seventy-nine percent. A small portion of the population contains Manchu and Mongols.
The province consists of 66,400 square kilometres of land with a total population of around 5,880,000. The provincial capital, Yinchuan, is divided into 'old city' and 'new city', with most of the industry in the new city section. The old city contains many items of interest to history students and tourists.
Evidence found in the region shows that humans occupied the area as long as 30,000 years ago. The province was a part of the Silk Road in the distant past. It became a part of China during the Qin Dynasty (220 BC to 206 BC). Later, the Mongols under Genghis Khan overran the region in the 13th century, followed by Turkish-speaking Muslims. The region became a part of Gansu in 1914. Finally, provincial status was obtained, along with becoming an autonomous region in 1958.
Rare plants for making Chinese medicines as well as precious stones have been found in the Great Bend area of the Huang He (Yellow River) in the province.
Ningxia has become the place for the rest of the world to get a glimpse of China, especially the Hui people, their culture, life style and religion. Cliff dwellings, royal mausoleums, Mount Helan, Bird Island, the deserts and the Yellow River are all attractions for tourists to Ningxia Province.
The Yellow River is one of the major attractions for its beauty. The capital city is also a highly-visited venue. Pagodas, mummified bodies and Shahu Lake are capital city attractions. Tourism has become a good income for the local people. They offer camel rides as well as rafting on the Yellow River. The beauties of Ningxia add to the attraction for visitors.
Major cities in Ningxia:
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