113-602: Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region , China , and was the capital of the Tangut -led Western Xia dynasty . It has an area of 8,874.61 km (3,426.51 sq mi) and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 Chinese census , and its built-up area was home to 2,564,918 inhabitants spread between three urban districts and Helan and Yongning counties largely being urbanized. The city's name literally means "silver river". Yinchuan
226-624: A gas explosion inside of a barbecue restaurant in Yinchuan killed at least 31 people and injured 7 others. Yinchuan lies in the middle of the Yinchuan Plain . It is sheltered from the deserts of Mongolia by the high ranges of the Helan Mountains to its west. The Yellow River runs through Yinchuan from southwest to northeast. The average elevation of Yinchuan is 1,100 meters (about 3,608 feet). The urban center of Yinchuan lies about halfway between
339-589: A 50 km (19 sq mi) area. Other famous sites in Ningxia include the Helan Mountains , the mysterious 108 stupas , the twin pagodas of Baisikou and the desert research outpost at Shapotou . A less visited tourist spot in Ningxia is the Mount Sumeru Grottoes ( 须弥山 ), which is among the ten most famous grottoes in China. Yellow River The Yellow River is the second-longest river in China and
452-419: A cattle breeding plan was implemented in 2002, the province has become one of China's main dairy production areas. Ningxia is the principal region of China where wolfberries are grown. Other specialties of Ningxia are licorice , products made from Helan stone, fiddlehead and products made from sheepskin . Ningxia wines are a promising area of development. The Chinese authorities have given approval to
565-502: A cultural affinity to the Han, and are far more assimilated into mainstream Chinese life . A number of cultural festivals are celebrated in Yinchuan. These include an Internet Film Festival , a Car and Motorcycle Tourism Festival, and an International Poetry Festival . Until 2000, Yinchuan was also the traditional host of an August festival celebrating the harvesting of Goji berries (a major product of Ningxia). The city's attractions include
678-654: A drastic eastward turn at its confluence with the Wei at Tongguan in Shaanxi . However, the official division for the middle reaches of the river run from Hekou in Togtoh County , Inner Mongolia , to Zhengzhou , Henan . The middle reaches are 1,206 km (749 mi) long, with a basin area of 344,000 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi), 45.7% of the total, with a total elevation drop of 890 m (2,920 ft), an average drop of 0.074%. There are 30 large tributaries along
791-694: A failed attempt to protect his realm's capital from the Later Tang . A similar proposal from the Song engineer Li Chun concerning flooding the lower reaches of the river to protect the central plains from the Khitai was overruled in 1020: the Chanyuan Treaty between the two states had expressly forbidden the Song from establishing new moats or changing river courses. Breaches occurred regardless: one at Henglong in 1034 divided
904-1391: A film, Project X-Traction , with Jackie Chan (the movie was never ultimately released). There are two pagodas in Yinchuan that are part of the 'Eight Famous Scenery of Ningxia': one is the Haibao Pagoda in the northern suburb and the other is the Chengtiansi Pagoda in the west. Parts of the Great Wall are near the city. Direct-administered municipalities . Sub-provincial cities as provincial capitals . Separate state-planning cities . Special economic-zone cities . Open coastal cities . Prefecture capital status established by Heilongjiang Province and not recognized by Ministry of Civil Affairs. Disputed by Oroqen Autonomous Banner , Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia as part of it. Only administers islands and waters in South China Sea and have no urban core comparable to typical cities in China. The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction. See Template:Administrative divisions of Taiwan instead. National: Provinces: Autonomous Regions: Municipalities: SARs: Ningxia Ningxia , officially
1017-860: A grape plantation near the Helan Mountains. The household appliance company Midea has also begun participating in Ningxia's wine industry. Vineyards have been set up in the region. Ningxia was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign. Yinchuan Economic and Technological Development Zone was established in 1992. Spanning 32 km (12 sq mi), 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
1130-466: A major flood of the regional center Sizhou and Pan's dismissal from court. Subsequently, the river's 1680 flood entirely submerged Sizhou and the nearby Ming Zuling tombs beneath Hongze Lake for centuries until modern irrigation and flood control lowered the water level enough to permit their excavation and the tombs' restoration. Between 1851 and 1855 , the Yellow River returned to the north amid
1243-452: A new channel and inundating most farmland, cities or towns in its path. The traditional Chinese response of building higher and higher levees along the banks sometimes also contributed to the severity of the floods: When flood water did break through the levees, it could no longer drain back into the river bed as it would after a normal flood, as the river bed was sometimes now higher than the surrounding countryside. These changes could cause
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#17330924191551356-531: A north–south extent of about 1,100 km (680 mi). Its total drainage area is about 795,000 square kilometers (307,000 sq mi). According to the China Exploration and Research Society, the source of the Yellow River is at 34°29′31″N 96°20′25″E / 34.49194°N 96.34028°E / 34.49194; 96.34028 in the Bayan Har Mountains near the eastern edge of
1469-597: A special clay stone. 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. In its dual-party government system, the chairman has less power than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Ningxia Committee Secretary, colloquially termed
1582-715: A standard military tactic during the Warring States period . As the Yellow River valley was the major entryway to the Guanzhong area and the state of Qin from the North China Plain , Qin heavily fortified the Hangu Pass ; it saw numerous battles and was also an important chokepoint protecting the Han capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang . Major flooding in AD 11 is credited with the downfall of
1695-589: A super-majority of Han Chinese people sans the county-level city of Lingwu , which is majority Hui. Of the city's population, 79.05% live in urban areas as of 2019. This proportion is highest in Xixia District , where 91.28% of the population lives in urban areas, and is lowest in Lingwu , where 58.22% of the population lives in urban areas. The city's gross domestic product per capita was ¥31,436 (US$ 4,526) in 2008, ranking 197th of 659 Chinese cities. In 2010, Yinchuan
1808-482: A total length of approximately 1397 kilometers) has been built from Qin dynasty . Extensive land reclamation and irrigation projects have made increased cultivation possible. The arid region of Xihaigu , which covers large parts of the province, suffers from severe water shortage , which the canals were intended to alleviate. Ningxia was the core area of the Western Xia in the 11th–13th centuries, established by
1921-715: Is a center for the Muslim Hui people , who constitute slightly over a quarter of the population. Hui Muslims play a vital role as being middlemen in trade between the Middle East and China, and the China-Middle East trade has become increasingly important to the country. Consequently, the national government has started constructing a $ 3.7 billion Islamic theme park called "World Muslim City" in Yinchuan. Unlike Uyghurs, who faces far more restrictions in religious freedoms, Hui Muslims generally do not seek independence from China and have
2034-401: Is continuously deposited along the bottom of its channel. The sedimentation causes natural dams to slowly accumulate. These subaqueous dams are unpredictable and generally undetectable. Eventually, the enormous amount of water needs to find a new way to the sea, forcing it to take the path of least resistance . When this happens, it bursts out across the flat North China Plain , sometimes taking
2147-542: Is now the permanent site for the China-Arab Expo, a platform for cultural and economic exchanges between China and Arab countries . The city is also home to Ningxia University , the largest regional comprehensive university under Ningxia's Project 211 . The area that is now Yinchuan was home to Shuidonggou , China's earliest paleolithic site. It dates from over 30,000 years ago, Later in Chinese prehistory , rock art
2260-554: Is running to the sea with sufficient volume, 1.4 billion tons are carried to the sea per year. One estimate gives 34 kilograms of silt per cubic meter, as opposed to 10 for the Colorado and 1 for the Nile . Its average discharge is said to be 2,110 cubic meters per second (32,000 for the Yangtze), with a maximum of 25,000 and minimum of 245. However, since 1972, it often runs dry before it reaches
2373-583: Is unique among royal burials. China West Film Studio, which has been famed as 'One Superb in China, and Treasure of Ningxia Province', is at the eastern foot of the magnificent Helanshan Mountain, 25 kilometers from the railway station of Yinchuan City, and 48 kilometers from Hedong Airport. It produced The Herdsman , Red Sorghum , Lover's Grief over the Yellow River , New Dragon Gate Inn , Ashes of Time , A Chinese Odyssey , Qiao's Grand Courtyard (TV series) and nearly one hundred other films. In 2018, John Cena lived for five months in Yinchuan while working on
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#17330924191552486-570: The 1332–33 flood or 1344 Yellow River flood during the Yuan dynasty , the 1887 flood during the Qing dynasty which killed anywhere from 900,000 to 2 million people, and a Republic of China era 1931 flood (part of a massive number of floods that year ) that killed 1–4 million people. The cause of the floods is the large amount of fine-grained loess carried by the river from the Loess Plateau , which
2599-475: The 1494 flood . The river flooded many times in the 16th century, including in 1526, 1534, 1558, and 1587. Each flood affected the river's lower course. The 1642 flood was man-made, caused by the attempt of the Ming governor of Kaifeng to use the river to destroy the peasant rebels under Li Zicheng who had been besieging the city for the past six months. He directed his men to break the dikes in an attempt to flood
2712-550: The Bayan Har Mountains , and the Anemaqen ( Amne Machin ) Mountains in Qinghai. The river water is clear and flows steadily. Crystal clear lakes are characteristic of this section. The two main lakes along this section are Lake Gyaring (Zhaling) and Lake Ngoring (Eling), with capacities of 4.7 billion and 10.8 billion m (166 and 381 billion ft ), respectively. At elevations over 4,290 m (14,070 ft) above sea level they are
2825-522: 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
2938-458: The Gulf of Bohai , draining a basin of 752,443 square kilometers (290,520 sq mi) which nourishes 140 million people with drinking water and irrigation. The Yellow River passes through seven present-day provinces and two autonomous regions , namely (from west to east) Qinghai , Sichuan , Gansu , Ningxia , Inner Mongolia , Shaanxi , Shanxi , Henan , and Shandong . Major cities along
3051-532: The Hui ethnic group, relied largely on animal grazing , subsistence agriculture and the cultivation of wolfberries used in traditional Chinese medicine . Since then, winemaking has become the premier specialty of Ningxia, and the province devotes almost 40,000 hectares to vineyards and producing 120 million bottles of wine in 2017 – a quarter of the entire nation's production. The earliest human activity in Ningxia can be traced back to 30,000 years ago, with remains of
3164-518: The Late Miocene , Pliocene or Pleistocene , as a result of the Tibetan Plateau being uplifted. The river has long been critical to the development of northern China, and is regarded by scholars as a cradle of civilization . Flooding of the river has also caused much destruction, including multiple floods that have resulted in the deaths of over one million people. Among the deadliest were
3277-482: The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region , is an autonomous region in Northwestern China . Formerly a province , Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous region for the Hui people , one of the 56 officially recognised nationalities of China . Twenty percent of China's Hui population lives in Ningxia. Ningxia is bounded by Shaanxi to
3390-705: The Second Sino-Japanese War , Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-shek broke the levees holding back the river near the village of Huayuankou in Henan, causing what has been called by Canadian historian, Diana Lary, a "war-induced natural disaster". The goal of the operation was to stop the advancing Japanese troops by following a strategy of "using water as a substitute for soldiers". The 1938 flood of an area covering 54,000 km (20,800 sq mi) took some 500,000 to 900,000 Chinese lives, along with an unknown number of Japanese soldiers. The flood prevented
3503-692: The Shaanxi loess plateau, it is referred to as 'river, my lord' ( 老爺河 , [lo˦˩˨ i˧ xɤu̯˧] ) in the Jin language. In Mongolian , it is called Šar mörön ( Шар мөрөн 'yellow river') or Khatan gol ( Хатан гол 'queen river'). The river is mentioned in the Kul Tigin stele as the 'green river' ( Old Turkic : yašïl ügüz , 𐰖𐱁𐰞𐰽𐰺𐰍). The Tibetan name is "River of the Peacock" ( Tibetan : རྨ ་ ཆུ , Wylie : rma.chu , THL : Ma chu ; 玛曲 ; 瑪曲 ; Mǎ qǔ ). The Yellow River first formed sometime during
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3616-621: The Shuidonggou Culture found in Lingwu . 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 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
3729-547: The Xia dynasty originated on its banks around 2100 BC; Sima Qian 's Shiji ( c. 91 BC ) record that the Xia were founded after the tribes around the Yellow River united to combat the frequent floods in the area. The river has provided fertile soil for agriculture, but since then has flooded and changed course frequently, with one estimate counting 1,593 floods in the 2,540 years between 595 BC and 1946 AD. As such,
3842-525: The Yangtze : one in the western headwaters of the rivers where they are closest to one another, another from the upper reaches of the Han River , and a third using the route of the old Grand Canal . Due to its heavy load of silt the Yellow River is a depositing stream – that is, it deposits part of its carried burden of soil in its bed in stretches where it is flowing slowly. These deposits elevate
3955-573: The Yellow River . The Ningxia ecosystem is one of the least studied regions in the world. Significant irrigation supports the growing of wolfberries , a commonly consumed fruit throughout the region. Ningxia's deserts include the Tengger desert in Shapotou . The northern section, through which the Yellow River flows, supports the best agricultural land. A railroad, linking Lanzhou with Baotou , crosses
4068-614: The Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture . The source tributaries drain into Gyaring Lake and Ngoring Lake on the western edge of Golog Prefecture high in the Bayan Har Mountains of Qinghai . In the Zoige Basin along the boundary with Gansu , the Yellow River loops northwest and then northeast before turning south, creating the " Ordos Loop ", and then flows generally eastward across the North China Plain to
4181-561: The sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi) and a watershed of 795,000 km (307,000 sq mi). Beginning in the Bayan Har Mountains , the river flows generally eastwards before entering the 1,500 km (930 mi) long Ordos Loop, which runs northeast at Gansu through the Ordos Plateau and turns east in Inner Mongolia . The river then turns sharply southwards to form
4294-444: The "Ningxia CCP Party Chief ". Ningxia has a friendship agreement with Sogn og Fjordane county of Norway. 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 ). Rural Ningxia was for long an officially designated poverty area, and remains on
4407-421: The 'Earth Suspended River' . At Kaifeng , Henan, the Yellow River is 10 meters (33 ft) above the ground level. Tributaries of the Yellow River listed from its source to its mouth include: The lower reaches of the Yellow River have no tributaries. The Yellow River is notable for the large amount of silt it carries—1.6 billion tons annually at the point where it descends from the Loess Plateau . If it
4520-478: The 11th century reigns of the Renzong and Shenzong emperors, when the river repeatedly broke its levees and migrated north and west, officials battled over whether expensive measures should be taken to return the river to its former channels. The Shenzong emperor ultimately decreed that the river be allowed to remain in its new course. Traditional flood control techniques made use of levees , revetments to absorb
4633-569: The 1950s the Yellow river, which is navigable downstream as far as Baotou in the Inner Mongolian autonomous region and upstream to Zhongwei and Zhongning , was the chief communication link. Yinchuan still has a river port at Hengcheng , about 15 km (9.3 mi) to the east. Since 1958 the city has been served by Yinchuan railway station on the Baotou–Lanzhou railway integrating it in
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4746-525: The 1970s, and until recently, the river frequently did not reach the sea. Since 2003, China has been working on the South–North Water Transfer Project to alleviate the strain on the river's water supply. When the Yellow River was still somewhat clear, it was simply referred to as 'the river' ( 河 , Old Chinese : *gâi ). Observations made at the Yumenkou gorge, where the river leaves
4859-801: The Autonomous Region's People's Government. The region is 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the sea and has an arid continental climate on the north to humid continental climate to the south, with average summer temperatures rising to 17 to 24 °C (63 to 75 °F) in July and average winter temperatures dropping to between −7 and −15 °C (19 and 5 °F) in January. Seasonal extreme temperatures can reach 39 °C (102 °F) in summer and −30 °C (−22 °F) in winter. The diurnal temperature variation can reach above 17 °C (31 °F), especially in spring. Annual rainfall averages from 190 to 700 millimetres (7.5 to 27.6 in), with more rain falling in
4972-506: The Bayan Har Mountains and ending at Hekou Town ( Togtoh County ), Inner Mongolia just before it turns sharply to the south. This segment has a total length of 3,472 kilometers (2,157 mi) and total basin area of 386,000 square kilometers (149,000 sq mi), 51.4% of the total basin area. Along this length, the elevation of the Yellow River drops 3,496 meters (11,470 ft), with an average grade of 0.10%. The source section flows mainly through pastures, swamps, and knolls between
5085-697: The Chinese railway network. The Taiyuan–Zhongwei–Yinchuan railway opened in 2011. Since the opening of the Yinchuan–Zhongwei high-speed railway in 2019, Yinchuan is also served by high-speed train services. Yinchuan is the first Chinese city to implement a monorail beyond demonstrational use, transporting visitors around the Yinchuan International Flower Expo park. The BYD Skytrain based system entered operation in September 2017. Highways link
5198-573: The Imperial Stud to safeguard the supply of army horses, as early as the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9). 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 affected Ningxia. By the 11th century the Tangut people had established the Western Xia dynasty on the outskirts of
5311-596: The Japanese Army from taking Zhengzhou , on the southern bank of the Yellow River, but did not stop them from reaching their goal of capturing Wuhan , which was the temporary seat of the Chinese government and straddles the Yangtze River . In 1954, the People's Republic of China announced its General Plan to Fundamentally Control Yellow River Flood Disasters and Develop Yellow River Waterworks. It sought to address both flooding risks and to convert rainfall-fed fields of
5424-475: The Jinshan Valley. The abundant hydrodynamic resources stored in this section make it the second most suitable area to build hydroelectric power plants. The famous Hukou Waterfall is in the lower part of this valley on the border of Shanxi and Shaanxi . In the lower reaches, from Zhengzhou to its mouth, a distance of 786 km (488 mi), the river is confined to a levee -lined course as it flows to
5537-660: The Mongols returned and slaughtered the city's entire population. Ghenghis Khan died during the siege under debated circumstances. The Mongols knew the city as "Iryai". Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, it was a prefecture of Ningxia . During the Dungan revolt , Dungan forces massacred 100,000 people in Yinchuan. In 1739, the city was heavily affected by the Yinchuan–Pingluo earthquake . A maximum intensity of XII
5650-438: The North China Plain to irrigated agriculture. Construction began in earnest in 1957. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the dry-up trends accelerated, with the Yellow River failing to reach its mouth for an average of approximately 180 days per year in the 1990s. In 1997, the Yellow River did not reach the sea for 226 consecutive days. The Yellow River basin has an east–west extent of about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 mi) and
5763-440: The Sand-lake, the Western Xia tombs , and the China Western film Studios. Sand Lake is a lake in a desert 35 miles north of Yinchuan with birds, reeds, lotus and fish. The Western Xia Imperial Tombs are 15.5 miles west of Yinchuan on east side of Mt. Helan. Since June 1972, nine imperial tombs and 253 lesser tombs have been unearthed, which are as grand as Ming Tombs in Beijing. With a total area of more than 19.3 square miles, it
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#17330924191555876-444: 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
5989-408: The Yellow River Basin by the south dike of the Yellow River. The total drop in elevation of the lower reaches is 93.6 m (307 ft), with an average grade of 0.012%. The silts received from the middle reaches form sediments here, elevating the river bed. Excessive sediment deposits have raised the riverbed several meters above the surrounding ground. That is why this part of the river is called
6102-486: The Yellow River and the edge of Helan Mountains. Yinchuan has a cold desert climate ( Köppen BWk ) with an annual rainfall of 194 mm (7.64 in). Yinchuan has distinct seasons, with dry, cold winters, late springs and short summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −6.8 °C (19.8 °F) in January to 24.4 °C (75.9 °F) in July, with the annual mean at 10.1 °C (50.2 °F). Diurnal temperature variation tends to be large due to
6215-521: The Yellow River has been considered a blessing and a curse throughout history, and has been nicknamed both "China's Pride" and "China's Sorrow". The Yellow River's basin presently has a population of 120 million people, while over 420 million people live in the immediate provinces which rely on it as a water source. The basin comprises 13 percent of China's cultivated land area. The area receives very uneven rainfall, only 2 percent of China's water runoff —water and sediment flow has decreased five-fold since
6328-421: The Yellow River is 3.91 billion tons in 1933. The highest silt concentration level was recorded in 1977 at 920 kg/m (57.4 lb/ft ). These sediments later deposit in the slower lower reaches of the river, elevating the river bed and creating the famous "river above ground". From Hekou to Yumenkou, the river passes through the longest series of continuous valleys on its main course, collectively called
6441-434: The Yellow River shifted completely south of Shandong Peninsula and flowed into the Yellow Sea . By 1194, the mouth of the Huai had been blocked. The buildup of silt deposits was such that even after the Yellow River later shifted its course, the Huai could no longer flow along its historic course, but instead, its water pools into Hongze Lake and then runs southward toward the Yangtze River . A flood in 1344 returned
6554-431: The Yellow River south of Shandong. The Yuan dynasty was waning, and the emperor forced enormous teams to build new embankments for the river. The terrible conditions helped to fuel rebellions that led to the founding of the Ming dynasty . The course changed again in 1391 when the river flooded from Kaifeng to Fengyang in Anhui . It was finally stabilized by the eunuch Li Xing during the public works projects following
6667-509: 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
6780-440: The aridity, which also partly contributes to the sunny climate; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 58 percent in January to 67 percent in November, the city receives 2,761 hours of bright sunshine annually. There are 158 frost-free days. As of 2019, 72.43% of the city's population is Han Chinese , 25.79% is Hui , and 1.78% are other ethnic minorities . Of the city's six county-level divisions , all have
6893-483: The border between Shanxi and Shaanxi , turns eastwards at its confluence with the Wei River , and flows across the North China Plain before emptying into the Bohai Sea . The river is named for the yellow color of its water, which comes from the large amount of sediment discharged into the water as the river flows through the Loess Plateau . The Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization . According to traditional Chinese historiography ,
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#17330924191557006-431: 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. Religion in Ningxia (around 2010) Islam is the single biggest religious tradition in Ningxia, adhered to by 34% of the population according to a 2010 survey. Many of the Han Chinese practise Chinese folk religions , Taoism , Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism . Christianity
7119-407: The city to Baotou along the river, to Lanzhou in Gansu province to the southwest, to Wuwei in Gansu to the west, and to Xi'an in Shaanxi province to the southeast. In Q1 2018, Yinchuan ranked first in traffic congestion severity in China. According to research by AutoNavi , and the Planning and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport , this was caused by numerous construction works and
7232-420: The course in three and repeatedly flooded the northern regions of Dezhou and Bozhou . The Song worked for five years futilely attempting to restore the previous course – using over 35,000 employees, 100,000 conscripts, and 220,000 tons of wood and bamboo in a single year – before abandoning the project in 1041. The more sluggish river then occasioned a breach at Shanghu that sent
7345-445: 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
7458-428: The east, Gansu to the south and west and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north and has an area of around 66,400 square kilometres (25,600 sq mi). 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 (with
7571-481: The eastern bank of the Yellow River , near Shizuishan , 100 km (62 mi) to the north, have made Shizuishan a coal-mining center. Yinchuan, however, remains largely non-industrial. The immediate plains area, intensively irrigated by a system developed as long ago as the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, is extremely productive. Yinchuan is the chief agricultural market and distribution center for this area and also deals in animal products from
7684-424: The energy of the water, overflow basins, drainage canals and polders . Treatises on traditional flood control techniques were written by officials such as Pan Jixun , who argued that joining branches of the river increased the water's power and this in turn increased its ability to flush sediment. The difficult situation around the confluence of the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Grand Canal, however, still led to
7797-569: The extent to which this degradation occurs over space and time. 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
7910-491: The floods that provoked the Nien and Taiping Rebellions . The 1887 flood has been estimated to have killed between 900,000 and 2 million people, and is the second-worst natural disaster in history (excluding famines and epidemics). The Yellow River more or less adopted its present course during the 1897 flood . The 1931 flood killed an estimated 1,000,000 to 4,000,000, and is the worst natural disaster recorded (excluding famines and epidemics). On 9 June 1938, during
8023-404: 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 Hongkui died that his wife went to Taiwan in 1971 from America to bring the artifacts to Chiang Kai-shek , who turned them over to the Taipei National Palace Museum . Present-day Ningxia is one of
8136-517: The herds tended by nomads in the surrounding grasslands. It is a market for grain and has flour mills, as well as rice-hulling and oil-extraction plants. The wool produced in the surrounding plains supplies a woolen-textile mill. During the nationwide 1989 Protests that followed the death of Hu Yaobang , Yinchuan was the site of student demonstrations responding to the April 26 Editorial . On May 28 numbers dropped drastically when only 3,000 students took to
8249-456: The ice dams before they become dangerous. Before modern dams appeared in China, the Yellow River used to be extremely prone to flooding. In the 2,540 years from 595 BC to 1946 AD, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely. These floods include some of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of
8362-409: The lower rungs of the developmental ladder. Its nominal GDP in 2023 was 531.50 billion yuan (US$ 75.43 billion) and its per capita GDP 72,957 yuan (US$ 10,353). It comprises 0.42% of the national economy . Similar to other areas, Ningxia has seen a gradual decline of its peasant population due to rural–urban migration. Despite this, the great majority (62.8 percent) was still agricultural at the time of
8475-556: The main outlet north towards Tianjin in 1048. In 1128, Song troops under the Kaifeng governor Du Chong ( 杜 充 , Dù Chōng , d. 1141) breached the southern dikes of the Yellow River in an effort to stop the advancing Jin army. The resulting major river avulsion allowed the Yellow to capture the Si and other tributaries of the Huai River . For the first time in recorded history,
8588-433: The middle reaches, and the water flow is increased by 43.5% on this stage. The middle reaches contribute 92% of the river's silts. The middle stream of the Yellow River passes through the Loess Plateau , where substantial erosion takes place. The large amount of mud and sand discharged into the river makes the Yellow River the most sediment -laden river in the world. The highest recorded annual level of silts discharged into
8701-426: The modern Loess Plateau , indicated the river changed to muddy sometime between 367 BC and 165 AD, according to chronicles' records. The alternative names 'murky river' ( 濁河 , *drôk-gâi ) and '(muddy) yellow river' ( 黃河 , *gwâŋ-gâi ) were attested in 145 BC and in 429 AD respectively. The name Yellow River fully replaces Murky River by the end of Tang dynasty , for unclear reasons. In
8814-501: The nation's smallest provincial-level units and borders the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region . At 3556 meters above sea level, Aobaogeda ( 敖包疙瘩 ) 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
8927-613: The native Han population to emigrate. Several of Yinchuan's important cultural sites were built under the Western Xia, such as the Pagoda of Chengtian and the Western Xia mausoleums . In the autumn of 1209, the Mongols invaded Western Xia . They laid siege to Yinchuan, which by this point was known as "Zhongxing". The garrison of 150,000 managed to hold out against the Mongols, although Western Xia submitted to Mongol suzerainty regardless. After Xia attempted to reassert its independence, in 1227
9040-518: The northeast across the North China Plain before emptying into the Bohai Sea . The basin area in this stage is only 23,000 square kilometers (8,900 sq mi), a mere 3% of the total, because few tributaries add to the flow in this stage; nearly all rivers to the south drain into the Huai River , whereas those to the north drain into the Hai River . The Huai River Basin, for example, is separated from
9153-411: The poor structure of the road network, rather than pure traffic volume. After reorganization of the road network and bottleneck intersections, congestion has reduced. It is served by Yinchuan Hedong International Airport . It is 25 km (16 mi) from Yinchuan and has flights to Beijing, Chengdu, Dunhuang, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xian, and Zhengzhou. Although most residents are Han Chinese, Yinchuan
9266-619: The population might initially die from drowning and many more would suffer later from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases. In Chinese mythology , the giant Kua Fu drained the Yellow River and the Wei River to quench his burning thirst as he pursued the Sun. Historical documents from the Spring and Autumn period and Qin dynasty indicate that the Yellow River at that time flowed considerably north of its present course. These accounts show that after
9379-534: The present course of the Yellow River include (from west to east) Lanzhou , Yinchuan , Wuhai , Baotou , Luoyang , Zhengzhou , Kaifeng , and Jinan . The current mouth of the Yellow River is located at Kenli County , Shandong. The river is commonly divided into three stages. These are roughly the northeast of the mountainous Tibetan Plateau , the Ordos Loop and Loess Plateau , and the North China Plain . However, different scholars have different opinions on how
9492-494: The province. The Muslim conflict in Gansu , which lasted from 1927 to 1930, spilt over into Ningxia. In 1934, warlord and National Revolutionary Army general Sun Dianying 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,
9605-441: The rainy season from July to October, when 60% of the annual volume of the river flows. Maximum demand for irrigation is needed between March and June. In order to capture excess water for use when needed and for flood control and electricity generation, several dams have been built, but their expected life is limited due to the high silt load. A proposed South–North Water Transfer Project involves several schemes to divert water from
9718-457: 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 –
9831-495: The rebels, but destroyed his own city instead: the flood and the ensuing famine and plague are estimated to have killed 300,000 of the city's previous population of 378,000. The once-prosperous city was nearly abandoned until its rebuilding under the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty . The question of how aggressively flooding should be controlled, and whether it should be steered back to its original channels when it migrated,
9944-493: 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. Scientists debate
10057-517: The region. A highway has been built across the Yellow River at Yinchuan. On 16 December 1920, the Haiyuan earthquake , 8.6 magnitude, at 36°36′N 105°19′E / 36.6°N 105.32°E / 36.6; 105.32 , initiated a series of landslides that killed an estimated 200,000 people. Over 600 large loess landslides created more than 40 new lakes. It was reported that approximately 34 percent (33.85 million mu ; 22,600 km ) of
10170-472: The regions along the river are mostly deserts and grasslands, with very few tributaries. The flow is slow. The Hetao Plain has a length of 900 km (560 mi) and width of 30 to 50 km (19 to 31 mi). It is historically the most important irrigation plain along the Yellow River. The Ordos Loop formed by an enormous twist of the Yellow River, beginning at Zhongning County in Ningxia and ending with
10283-455: The river passed Luoyang , it flowed along the border between Shanxi and Henan Provinces, then continued along the border between Hebei and Shandong before emptying into Bohai Bay near present-day Tianjin . Another outlet followed essentially the present course. The river left these paths in 602 BC and shifted several hundred kilometers to the east. Sabotage of dikes, canals, and reservoirs and deliberate flooding of rival states became
10396-622: The river skirts through the high-altitude peat bog known as the Zoigê Wetlands and makes a sharp turn towards the northwest forming the border between Maqu and Zoigê County in Sichuan . Flowing now along the northern edge of Amne Machin, the river reenters Qinghai and gradually curves north towards the Longyang Gorge at Xinghai . The valley section stretches from Longyang Gorge in Qinghai to Qingtong Gorge in Gansu. Steep cliffs line both sides of
10509-577: The river's mouth to shift as much as 480 km (300 mi), sometimes reaching the ocean to the north of the Shandong Peninsula and sometimes to the south. Another historical source of devastating floods is the collapse of upstream ice dams in Inner Mongolia with an accompanying sudden release of vast quantities of impounded water. There have been 11 such major floods in the past century, each causing tremendous loss of life and property. Nowadays, explosives dropped from aircraft are used to break
10622-496: The river. The water bed is narrow and the average drop is large, so the flow in this section is extremely turbulent and fast. There are 20 gorges in this section, the most famous of these being the Longyang , Jishi, Liujia , Bapan, and Qingtong gorges. The flow conditions in this section makes it the best location for hydroelectric plants. The Yellow River exits Qinghai for the second and final time in these gorges and enters Gansu for
10735-423: The riverbed which flows between natural levees in its lower reaches. Should a flood occur, the river may break out of the levees into the surrounding lower flood plain and take a new channel. Historically this has occurred about once every hundred years. In modern times, considerable effort has been made to strengthen levees and control floods. Below is an incomplete list of hydroelectric power stations built on
10848-491: The sea. The low volume is due to increased agricultural irrigation, increased by a factor of five since 1950. Water diverted from the river as of 1999 served 140 million people and irrigated 74,000 km (29,000 sq mi) of land. The Yellow River delta totals 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 square miles). However, with the decrease in silt reaching the sea, it has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year since 1996 through erosion. The highest volume occurs during
10961-516: The second time just before Liujia Gorge. Downstream from the Yanguo Gorge, the provincial capital of Lanzhou is built upon the Yellow River's banks. The Yellow River flows northeasterly out of Gansu and into Ningxia before the Qingtong Gorge. After emerging from the Qingtong Gorge, the river comes into a section of vast alluvial plains , the Yinchuan Plain and Hetao Plain . In this section,
11074-434: The short-lived Xin dynasty , and another flood in AD 70 returned the river north of Shandong on essentially its present course. From around the beginning of the 3rd century, the importance of the Hangu Pass was reduced, with the major fortifications and military bases moved upriver to Tongguan . In AD 923, the desperate Later Liang general Duan Ning again broke the dikes, flooding 1,000 square miles (2,600 km ) in
11187-474: The south of the region. 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
11300-578: The streets. A similar number of people would march again, this time with wreaths and banners, when they heard the news about the June 4 crackdown in Beijing . On July 23, 1993, China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 , in route from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport , crashed into a lake after it was unable to get airborne while attempting to take off at Yinchuan Airport, killing 54 passengers and 1 crew member on board. On 21 June 2023,
11413-429: 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. Since
11526-525: 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 set was sent to the Kaifeng Jews by the Ningbo and Ningxia Jewish communities . It then came under Mongol domination after Genghis Khan conquered Yinchuan in the early 13th century. Muslims from Central Asia also began moving into Ningxia from
11639-658: The three stages are divided. This article mainly adopts the division used by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission . The Yellow River derived sediments have been transported out of the Bohai Sea, all way to the North Yellow Sea and South Yellow Sea, and formed a Distal Depocenter around the Shandong Peninsula. The upper reaches of the Yellow River constitute a segment starting from its source in
11752-506: 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
11865-626: The two largest plateau freshwater lakes nationwide. A significant amount of land in the Yellow River's source area has been designated as the Sanjiangyuan ("'Three Rivers' Sources") National Nature Reserve , to protect the source region of the Yellow River, the Yangtze , and the Mekong . Flowing east at the eastern edge of the Amne Machin Mountains, the Yellow River enters Maqu County in Gansu . Here,
11978-428: The way through the night as many canals were destroyed, shutting off the flow of water. The ground opened for more than 100 m (330 ft), where sand and black water erupted. Aftershocks persisted for more than two years with the largest being a 5.5 on February 13 that same year. In 1928, when the province of Ningxia was formed from part of Gansu , Yinchuan became the capital city. In 1954, when Ningxia province
12091-458: The west. By the late 17th century, Ningxia had become a weaving centre, producing many early Chinese carpets. The Muslim Dungan Revolt of the 19th century affected Ningxia. In 1914, Ningxia was merged with the province of Gansu . In 1928, it 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
12204-559: Was a topic of controversy in the imperial court. Rival cliques made arguments based on budgetary, technical and strategic criteria. Geographer Charles Greer identifies two competing schools of thought on how to control the Yellow River. One, which he identifies as Confucian , advocated containing the river between higher levees, thus maximizing the amount of river basin land that could be cultivated. The other, which he associates with Taoism , favored lower levees separated by as much as 5-10 kilometers. In one particular long-running debate during
12317-479: Was abolished, the city was put in Gansu province; but, with the establishment of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in 1958, Yinchuan once again became the capital. Traditionally, Yinchuan was an administrative and commercial center. In the 1950s, the city had many commercial enterprises, and there were some handicrafts, but no modern industry. The city has since grown considerably. Extensive coal deposits discovered on
12430-720: Was created in the Helan mountains adjacent to modern-day Yinchuan. Yinchuan was originally a county under the name of Fuping in the 1st century BCE; its name was changed to Huaiyuan in the 6th century CE. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, Yinchuan came under the control of the Tanguts . In 1038, the Tangut leader Yuanhao declared himself emperor of the Great Xia and made Yinchuan his capital, at that time known as "Xingqing" ( simplified Chinese : 兴庆 ; traditional Chinese : 興慶 ; pinyin : Xīngqìng ). This provoked much of
12543-652: Was designated as the site for the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum . At the national level, Yinchuan hosts various events such as the China-Arab States Expo, to function as a commercial link between China and Arab States. Yinchuan has an aircraft tire plant owned by Singapore-based Giti Tire . Yinchuan classifies itself as a ' smart city ', where modern technology is employed such as facial recognition for public transport payments, connected trash bins and digital citizen service centres. Until
12656-499: Was determined on the Chinese seismic intensity scale , and XI on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake collapsed most houses, temples, offices, and a city wall 10 m (33 ft) tall and 6 m (20 ft) wide. Ground fissures up to an meter wide, and 100 m (330 ft) long, and great subsidence were accounted in historical records. Over 15,300 people killed and the city was completely levelled. Blazing fires burned all
12769-502: Was the religion of 1.17% of the province's population according to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2004. In 2008, there were 3,760 mosques in Ningxia, which is about one per 1730 residents. One of Ningxia's main tourist spots is the internationally renowned Xixia Tombs site located 30 km (19 mi) west of Yinchuan . The remnants of nine Western Xia emperors' tombs and two hundred other tombs lie within
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