Experience the best of Yinchuan

Yinchuan stands on the plain of the Yellow River, watered by canals for more than two thousand years, with the bare Helan Mountains to the west and desert beyond. It is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and was the capital of the Western Xia state in the eleventh century. The Chengtian Temple Pagoda, an eleven-storey brick tower from the Western Xia era, rises over the old city.

The Western Xia Imperial Tombs, a group of earthen mounds on the plain at the foot of the Helan Mountains, lie west of the city. In the mountains, ancient rock carvings show faces and animals, and the Zhenbeibao film studios were built from an old fortified town on the plain.

Ningxia is the heartland of China's Hui people, and lamb, noodles and flatbreads are the core of the menu. The region produces goji berries and grows wine grapes on the eastern slopes of the Helan Mountains. The climate is dry and continental, with warm summers and very cold winters.