Shapotou District (,
Xiao'erjing
Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...
: شَاپُوَتِوْ ٿِيُوِ) is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of
Zhongwei
Zhongwei (, Xiao'erjing: جْووِ شِ) is a prefecture-level city of Ningxia, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and a population of 1,174,600 in 2019. The city is known for its wolfberry and Gobi watermelon cultivation. One of the ...
,
Ningxia
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 ...
, China, noted for the
Tengger Desert
The Tengger Desert or Tengri Desert ( mn, Тэнгэр цөл, ) is an arid natural region that covers about 36,700 km2 and is mostly in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China.
The desert is expanding in size.Haner, Josh, et al. (24 O ...
, and bordering
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
to the north and
Gansu province to the west.
It is the site of the
Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station. The research station is located at the southern end of the dune sea on the banks of the
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...
. Research at station includes dune stabilization using grasses and microbial mats. Regions stabilized in the 1950s are now used for fruit and vine crops.
Sand dune stabilization Sand dune stabilization is a coastal management practice designed to prevent erosion of sand dunes. Sand dunes are common features of shoreline and desert environments. Dunes provide habitat for highly specialized plants and animals, including rar ...
in the region is required to curtail burial of the trans-Asia
Baotou–Lanzhou Railway.
Administrative divisions
In the present, Shapotou District, has 10 towns and 1 township.
;10 towns
*
Binhe (, )
* Wenchang (, )
* Dongyuan (, )
* Rouyuan (, )
*
Zhenluo (, )
* He (, )
*
Yongkang (, )
* Changle (, )
*
Yingshuiqiao (, )
* Xingren (, )
;1 township
* Xiangshan (, )
External links
Tengger desert & Tonghu grassland
Deserts of China
County-level divisions of Ningxia
Dunes of China
Zhongwei
{{Ningxia-geo-stub