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Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the
northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into
Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous region for the
Hui people The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...
, one of the 56 officially recognised
nationalities of China China's population consists of 56 ethnic groups, not including some ethnic groups from Taiwan. The Han people are the largest ethnic group in mainland China. In 2010, 91.51% of the population were classified as Han (~1.2 billion). Besides the H ...
. Twenty percent of China's Hui population lives in Ningxia. Ningxia is bounded by Shaanxi to the east,
Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
to the south and west and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north and has an area of around . This sparsely settled, mostly desert region lies partially on the Loess Plateau and in the vast plain of the Yellow River and features the Great Wall of China along its northeastern boundary. Over about 2000 years an extensive system of canals (The total length about 1397 kilometers) has been built from Qin dynasty. Extensive
land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
and irrigation projects have made increased cultivation possible. The arid region of
Xihaigu Xihaigu is a region forming the southern tip of Ningxia, China. It consists of the seven county-level divisions Yuanzhou, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan and Tongxin. The former five counties being part of Guyuan city. It forms ...
, which covers large parts of the province, suffers from severe
water shortage Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where ...
, which the canals were intended to alleviate. Ningxia was the core area of the Western Xia in the 11th-13th century, established by the Tangut people; its name, "Peaceful Xia", derived from the Mongol conquest of the state. The Tanguts made significant achievements in literature, art, music, and architecture, particularly invented Tangut script. Long one of the country's poorest areas, a small winemaking industry has become economically important since the 1980s. Before the arrival of viticulture, Ningxia's 6.8 million people, 36 per cent of whom are Muslims from the Hui ethnic group, relied largely on animal grazing,
subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
and the cultivation of
wolfberries Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry () is the fruit of either ''Lycium barbarum'' or ''Lycium chinense'', two closely related species of Lycium, boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ''L. barbarum'' and ''L. chinense'' fruits ar ...
used in traditional Chinese medicine. Since then, winemaking has become the premier specialty of Ningxia. The province housed almost 40,000 hectares of wine grapes and produced 120 million wine bottles in 2017 – a quarter of the entire nation's production.


History

As a frontier zone between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers, Ningxia was a frequent seat of war and incursions by non-Chinese tribes. Ningxia and its surrounding areas were incorporated into the
Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...
as the Beidi Commandery as early as the 3rd century BC. To pacify the region, the imperial government established military colonies to reclaim land. In addition, horse pasturages were founded under the Imperial Stud to safeguard the supply of army horses, as early as the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE – 9 CE). Throughout the Han dynasty and the Tang dynasty there were several large cities established in the region. The Liang Province rebellion at the
end of the Han Dynasty The end of the Han dynasty was the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow ...
affected Ningxia. By the 11th century the Tangut people had established the
Western Xia dynasty The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...
on the outskirts of the then- Song dynasty. Jews also lived in Ningxia, as evidenced by the fact that in 1489, after a major flood destroyed Torah scrolls in Kaifeng, a replacement was sent to the Kaifeng Jews by the Ningbo and Ningxia Jewish communities. It then came under Mongol domination after
Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...
conquered Yinchuan in the early 13th century. Muslims from Central Asia also began moving into Ningxia from the west. The Muslim Dungan Revolt of the 19th century affected Ningxia. In 1914, Ningxia was merged with the province of
Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
. However, in 1928 it was detached from Gansu and became a separate province. Between 1914 and 1928, the Ma clique ruled the provinces of Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu; General Ma Hongkui was the military governor of Ningxia and had absolute authority in the province. The Muslim conflict in Gansu, which lasted from 1927 to 1930, spilled over into Ningxia. In 1934, warlord and
National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...
general
Sun Dianying Sun Dianying (; 1889–1948) was a Chinese bandit leader, warlord, and National Revolutionary Army commander who fought in the Warlord Era, Second Sino-Japanese War, and Chinese Civil War, earning notoriety for changing sides multiple times in co ...
attempted to conquer the province, but was defeated by an alliance led by the Ma clique. From 1950 to 1958, a Kuomintang Islamic insurgency resulted in fighting throughout Northwest China, including Ningxia. In 1954, the Chinese government merged Ningxia with Gansu, but in 1958 Ningxia formally became an autonomous region of China. In 1969, Ningxia received a part of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, but this area was returned in 1979. A number of Chinese artifacts dating from the Tang dynasty and Song dynasty, some of which had been owned by Emperor Zhenzong, were excavated and then came into the hands of Ma Hongkui, who refused to publicize the findings. Among the artifacts were a white marble tablet from the Tang dynasty, gold nails, and bands made out of metal. It was not until after Ma died that his wife went to Taiwan in 1971 from America to bring the artifacts to
Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, who turned them over to the Taipei
National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...
.


Geography

Present-day Ningxia is one of the nation's smallest provincial-level units and borders the provinces of Shaanxi and
Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At 3556 meters above sea level, Aobaogeda () in the Helan Mountains is the highest point in Ningxia. Ningxia is a relatively dry, desert-like region and features a diverse geography of forested mountains and hills, table lands, deserts, flood plains and basins cut through by the Yellow River. The Ningxia ecosystem is one of the least studied regions in the world. Significant irrigation supports the growing of
wolfberries Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry () is the fruit of either ''Lycium barbarum'' or ''Lycium chinense'', two closely related species of Lycium, boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ''L. barbarum'' and ''L. chinense'' fruits ar ...
, a commonly consumed fruit throughout the region. Ningxia's deserts include the Tengger desert in
Shapotou Shapotou District (, Xiao'erjing: شَاپُوَتِوْ ٿِيُوِ) is a district of Zhongwei, Ningxia, China, noted for the Tengger Desert, and bordering Inner Mongolia to the north and Gansu province to the west. It is the site of the Shapo ...
. The northern section, through which the Yellow River flows, supports the best agricultural land. A railroad, linking
Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...
with
Baotou Baotou (; mn, Buɣutu qota, Бугат хот) is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is h ...
, crosses the region. A highway has been built across the Yellow River at Yinchuan. 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 Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
landslides created more than 40 new lakes. In 2006, satellite images indicated that a 700 by 200-meter fenced area within Ningxia— southwest of Yinchuan, near the remote village of Huangyangtan—is a near-exact 1:500 scale terrain model 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.


Grasslands

It was reported that approximately 34 percent (33.85 million mu) of the region's total surface consisted of grassland. This figure is down from approximately 40 percent in the 1990s. The grasslands are spread over the dry desert-steppe area in the northeast (which forms a part of the Inner Mongolian steppe region), and the hilly pastures located on the semi-arid Loess Plateau in the south. It is ascertained that the grasslands of Ningxia have been degraded to various degrees. However, there is scientific debate as to what extent this degradation is taking place as measured in time and space. Historical research has also found limited evidence of expanding grassland degradation and desertification in Ningxia. A major component of land management in Ningxia is a ban on open grazing, which has been in place since 2003. The ecological and socio-economic effects of this Grazing Ban in relation to the grasslands and pastoralists' livelihood are contested. The ban stipulates that animal husbandry be limited to enclosed pens and no open grazing be permitted in certain time periods set by the Autonomous Region's People's Government.


Climate

The region is from the sea and has an arid
continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...
on the north to humid continental climate to the south, with average summer temperatures rising to in July and average winter temperatures dropping to between in January. Seasonal extreme temperatures can reach in summer and in winter. The diurnal temperature variation can reach above , especially in spring. Annual rainfall averages from , with more rain falling in the south of the region.


Mineral resources

Ningxia is rich in mineral resources with proven deposits of 34 kinds of minerals, much of which located in grassland areas. In 2011 it was estimated that the potential value per capita of these resources accounted for 163.5 percent of the nation's average. Ningxia boasts verified coal reserves of over 30 billion tons, with an estimated reserve of more than 202 billion tons, ranking sixth nationwide. Coal deposits are spread over one-third of the total surface of Ningxia, and mined in four major fields in the Helan and Xiangshan mountains, Ningdong and Yuanzhou (or Guyuan). The region's reserves of oil and natural gas can be found in Yanchi and Lingwu County, and are ideal for large-scale development of oil, natural gas and chemical industries. Ningxia leads China in gypsum deposits, with a proven reserve of more than 4.5 billion tons, of which the rarely found, top-grade gypsum accounts for half of the total deposits. The Hejiakouzi deposit in Tongxin County features a reserve of 20 million tons of gypsum with a total thickness of 100 meters. There is a considerable deposit of quartz sandstone, of which 17 million tons have been ascertained. In addition, there are phosphorus, flint, copper, iron, barite, other minerals and Helan stone – a special clay stone.


Governance

The politics of Ningxia is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China. The Chairman of the Autonomous Region is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Ningxia. However, in the Autonomous Region's dual party-government governing system, the Chairman has less power than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Ningxia Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Ningxia CCP Party Chief". Ningxia has a friendship agreement with Sogn og Fjordane county of Norway.


Administrative divisions

Ningxia is divided into five prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities: The five prefecture-level cities of Ningxia are subdivided into 22 county-level divisions (9 districts, 2 county-level cities, and 11 counties).


Urban areas


Economy

Rural Ningxia was for long an officially designated poverty area, and is still located on the lower rungs of the developmental ladder. It is the province with the third smallest GDP ( Tibet being the last) in China, even though its neighbors, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, are among the strongest emerging provincial economies in the country. Its nominal GDP in 2011 was just 200.0 billion yuan (US$32.7 billion) and a per capita GDP of 21,470 yuan (US$3,143). It contributes 0.44% of the
national economy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
.


Agriculture

Similar to other areas, Ningxia has seen a gradual decline of its peasant population due to rural–urban migration. In spite of this, the great majority (62.8 percent) was still agricultural at the time of the survey. Animal husbandry is important for the regional economy. In the main pastoral county, Yanchi, it is even the leading industry when specified for the primary sector. The dominant grazing animals are sheep and goat. In the (semi-)pastoral regions, herders engage in a mixed sedentary farming operation of dryland agriculture and extensive animal husbandry, while full nomadic pastoralism is no longer practiced. Ningxia is the principal region of China where
wolfberries Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry () is the fruit of either ''Lycium barbarum'' or ''Lycium chinense'', two closely related species of Lycium, boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ''L. barbarum'' and ''L. chinense'' fruits ar ...
are grown. Other specialties of Ningxia are licorice, products made from Helan stone,
fiddlehead Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond (circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the sea ...
and products made from sheepskin.
Ningxia wines A Ningxia wine is any wine produced in the Chinese province of Ningxia (Chinese: 宁夏; pronounced ǐŋɕjâ. Since large producers moved into the region in the 1980s and local producer successes at wine competitions in the 2010s spurred further ...
are a promising area of development. The Chinese authorities have given approval to the development of the eastern base of the Helan Mountains as an area suitable for wine production. Several large Chinese wine companies including Changyu and Dynasty Wine have begun development in the western region of the province. Together they now own 20,000 acres of land for wine plantations and Dynasty has ploughed 100 million yuan into Ningxia. In addition, the major oil company China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation has founded a grape plantation near the Helan Mountains. The household appliance company
Midea Midea may refer to: * Midea Group (美的集团), a Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer * Midea, Greece, a Greek town * Midea (Argolid), a citadel in the town of the same name * Midea or Mideia, name of four figures in Greek mythology * '' ...
has also begun participating in Ningxia's wine industry. Vineyards have been set up in the region.


Industries and economic zones

Yinchuan Economic and Technological Development Zone was established in 1992. Spanning , it has an annual economic output Rmb23.7 billion (25.1% up) (US$3.5 billion). Major investors are mainly local enterprises such as Kocel Steel Foundry, FAG Railway Bearing (Ningxia), Ningxia Little Giant Machine Tools, etc. Major industries include machinery and equipment manufacturing, new materials, fine chemicals and the animation industry. Desheng Industrial Park (in Helan County) is a base for about 400 enterprises. The industrial park has industrial chains from Muslim food and commodities to trade and logistics, new materials and bio-pharmaceuticals that has 80 billion yuan in fixed assets. Desheng is looking to be the most promising industrial park in the city. It achieved a total output value of 4.85 billion in 2008, up 40 percent year-on-year. The local government plans to cut taxes and other fees to reduce the burden on local enterprises. The industrial output value reached 2.68 billion yuan in 2008, an increase of 48 percent from a year earlier.


Transport


Airports

* Yinchuan Hedong International Airport * Zhongwei Shapotou Airport *
Guyuan Liupanshan Airport Guyuan Liupanshan Airport is an airport serving Guyuan, a city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. It is located in Zhonghe Township, from the city center. The airport cost 458 million yuan to build and started operation on 26 June 2010 ...
*
Wuhai Airport Wuhai Airport is an airport in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, China. It was opened in 2003. History Wuhai Airport was built under the 10th five-year plan. Construction of the airport cost 145 million yuan. ''China Daily'' reported in December 2003 th ...
(serves the northern area)


Highways

* China National Highway 109 * China National Highway 110 * China National Highway 211 * China National Highway 307 * China National Highway 309 * China National Highway 312


Bridge

* Taole Yellow River Expressway Bridge ()


Rail

* Baotou–Lanzhou railway *
Baoji–Zhongwei railway The Baoji–Zhongwei railway is a railway line in northwest China: it starts in Baoji in Shaanxi, passes through Pingliang in Gansu and finally ends in Zhenluobao (镇罗堡) in Zhongwei in Ningxia, with a total length of 498.19 kilometres. Con ...
()


Education


Demographics


Religion

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the single biggest religious tradition in Ningxia, where every third Ningxia resident is a Muslim. Many of the Han Chinese practice Chinese folk religions, Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism. According to a demographic analysis of the year 2010, Muslims form 34% of the province's population.Min Junqing. ''The Present Situation and Characteristics of Contemporary Islam in China''. JISMOR, 8
2010 Islam by province, page 29
Data from: Yang Zongde, ''Study on Current Muslim Population in China'', Jinan Muslim, 2, 2010.
Christianity is the religion of 1.17% of the province's population according to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2004.China General Social Survey 2004. Report by: In 2008, the number of mosques in Ningxia was 3,760, which is about one per 1730 residents.


Hospitals

* People's Hospital of Ningxia * Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Ningxia * Ningxia Medical College Affiliated Hospital * Yinchuan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine * Yinchuan People's Hospital * Yinchuan Stomatological Hospital * Yinchuan Women and Children's Healthcare Center * Women and Children's Healthcare Center of Ningixa * Yinchuan No.1 People's Hospital * Yinchuan No.2 People's Hospital * Yinchuan No.3 People's Hospital * Shizuishan No.2 People's Hospital * Guyuan Hospital of Ningxia


Tourism

One of Ningxia's main tourist spots is the internationally renowned Xixia Tombs site located west of Yinchuan. The remnants of nine Western Xia emperors' tombs and two hundred other tombs lie within a area. Other famous sites in Ningxia include the Helan Mountains, the mysterious
108 stupas The One Hundred and Eight Stupas () is an array of one hundred and eight Buddhist stupas (also called dagobas) on a hillside on the west bank of the Yellow River at Qingtongxia in Ningxia, China. The stupas were originally constructed during the W ...
, the twin pagodas of Baisikou and the desert research outpost at
Shapatou Shapotou District (, Xiao'erjing: شَاپُوَتِوْ ٿِيُوِ) is a district of Zhongwei, Ningxia, China, noted for the Tengger Desert, and bordering Inner Mongolia to the north and Gansu province to the west. It is the site of the Sha ...
. A less visited tourist spot in Ningxia is the Mount Sumeru Grottoes (), which is among the ten most famous grottoes in China.


Museums

*
Ningxia Museum The Ningxia Museum () is a museum in Jinfeng District, Yinchuan, Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Rep ...
, opened in 1988 *
Ningxia Transportation Museum Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...
, opened in August 2008 * (MOCA Yinchuan) Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, opened on 8 August 2015.


Notable people

* Emma Gao, winemaker * Zhang Jin, physical chemist and nanotechnologist


See also

*
Major national historical and cultural sites in Ningxia Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicator ...


References


Citations


Sources

*


External links


Ningxia Provincial Government
*

at
HKTDC The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 as the international marketing dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. The organisation has 50 offices around the world, includin ...

Ningxia Profile - UNESCAP


{{Authority control Autonomous regions of China Western China States and territories established in 1958