Western Xia Tombs

Western Xia Imperial Tombs are 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) west of Yinchuan on east side of
Helan Mountain. 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 50 square kilometers (19.3 square miles), it is unique among
royal burials. The layout is patterned after the celestial bodies.According to records, the
tombs were patterned after Song Tombs in Gongxian County, Henan Province. Each imperial
tomb is an individual and integrated group of architectures, sitting north and facing south
in a rectangle.

It is one of the largest and best preserved imperial graveyards in China, unique not only
in structure but also in their sheer sizes and close proximity to each other. A seven-
layered solid pagoda 22 meters in height and octagonal in shape, with each side measurig 12
meters in length, is positioned 10 meters west of the vertical line of each mausoleum,
which is also graced with two to three stele pavilions. The boundaries of each mausoleum
are marked with four corner turrets, a unique feature of Western Xia mausoleums. The
companion tombs are in cylindrical, truncated cones, vaulted and other designs.

Western Xia Kingdom was founded 770 years ago and overthrown by Genghis khan and his army in the 13th century.The Western Xia state existed between 1038 and 1227, when it was
finally conquered by the Mongols under Chingis Khan, and was founded by the Tangut ethnic
group, about which little is currently known. Of current excavations, only the No.3
mausoleum has been adequately excavated and researched. This mausoleum is attributed to
Western Xia's first emperor Li Yuanhao (1003-1048), has been determined as a pavilion-tower
construction fusing both traditional mausoleum and temple styles with Buddhist
characteristics.

Western Xia Imperial Tombs are not only a state cultural heritage but also a state scenic
spot. The magnificent labyrinth and the continuous Helan Mountain and boundless desert are
definitely worth visiting.

Mosque of Nanquan

As early as 30 thousand years ago, there were traces of human beings in Ningxia. Located on the 'Silk Road,' Ningxia was an important traffic path connecting the east and west in ancient times. Because of its important Yellow River (Huanghe) location, Ningxia also has a long history with Huanghe culture. The Ningxia Autonomous Region of the Hui Nationality was formally founded in October of 1958. It is China's largest region home to people of Hui descent. Here they live in compact communities and number one third of the area's total population.

As most Huis practice the Muslim religion, they have unique ways of living. Many mosques are scattered throughout the city, and the Nanguan Mosque is a good example. It is a Modern Middle Eastern-style structure with Islamic arches and domed roofs covered in green tiles.
Mosque of Nanquan is located in Jiefang Road, Yinchuan City. To its north is the Red Water River. Mosque of Nanguan is the place for Muslim masses organization and worshipping activities in Linxia.

The Big Mosque of Ningxia is a combination of the Arabic style and the national characteristics construction. It was built in the last year of Yuan dynasty. The total area occupied is 2,180 square meters. The Sunday hall sits west and face east. It is a combination of winding in the front and straight in the back in structure.

It was reconstructed in 1981 and was located on the southeast corner of Yinchuan City. It was the centre where Hui tribe populace carried out religious activities in Yinchuan. During the Djumah Date or Hui tribe tradition holiday every year, hundreds and thousands of Muslim religion will converge here to go on pilgrimage week.

The surrounding hall is magnificent and solemn and built by 30 pieces of big round root decorated with cement relief, where the wall looks very elegant and unique. There are three green peak towers with the roof of round vaults on the roof of the front of the palace, named as “munanai” and “Wangyue Building”, with an altitude of 22 meters. The round vaults were decorated with blessing bottles and colorful moon.The middle munaina were scripted with varied bibles in ancient language where it is a good place for studying and reciting the bible. With an integration of the Chinese traditional architecture arts and the style of Arabic, it is the core of the combination of sino-west culture.

The Big East Close Islamic temple main shrine construction’s height is 26 meters. It sits west and face east and the temple area covers approximately 10,000 square meters. The main shrine is circular in shape with two arches. The upper formation is the main hall; balcony and the big square shape hall can accommodate more than 1,300 people for praying. The lower level comprised of spacious bathroom, little praying palace, female praying palace, Arabic school, and the akhoond bedroom, and office and reception room and so on.

They are all connected by a winding corridor. There is a big arch decoration composed by four smaller green arches in the center of the tower roof. The bigger one resides in the central committee with a diameter of 9 meters. The peak was hung with crescent moon where the small ones has diameter of 3 meters, distributed in all four corners of the roof.

Grottoes In Xumi Mountain

The Grottoes on Xumi Mountain are located on the east slope of Xumi Mountain, 55 kilometers northwest of Guyuan County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The name of Xumi Mountain is a translation from Sanskrit, which means a treasure mountain. With the hills, trees and rivers, the grottoes display a beautiful surrounding. Judging by the form of grottoes and the style of sculptures, they were initially built in the late Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) and completed with effort in the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907).

According to the inscription for the reconstruction in during the reign of Chenghua twelve year (1476) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it was named Jingyun Temple in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and renamed to Guoguang Temple in the Ming Dynasty. Originally, there were more than 130 grottoes with temples on the ground. However, only 20 well preserved grottoes remained scatter on the five peaks. They were called by the native as Dafo Lou (Great Building of Buddhism), Zisun Gong (Palace for offspring), Yuanguang Temple, Xiangguo Temple and Taohua Cavern (Peach Blossom Cavern), winding for two kilometers.

In the grottoes of Xumi Mountain, there remained many inscriptions left from the Tang, Song, Western Xia, Jin and Ming Dynasties (618-1644) and some steles from the Ming Dynasty, which are important materials for studying the spread of Buddhism during the Tang, Song, Jin, Western Xia, and Ming dynasties.

With a far different from one of most domestic rock caves that is only cut on a stone precipice, Xumi mountain rock cave and cut it on 8 distant stones mountains of wide gap, the pattern is peculiar, and there are ladder bridges that link up between every ditch. Xu-mi mountain ridges and peaks one pile of screen-like mountain peaks, luxuriant Lin Mu, draw near and have flowing water, the scenery is beautiful, is the northwest rare scenic spot of loess plateau. Already a ladder has put up a bridge between every ditch, in order to visit.

The geographical position of Xumi mountain rock cave is remote. Choose weather kind season to visit. Generally speaking the best in summer, will do in spring and autumn, not very suitable in winter. Xumi mountain rock cave with four major rock cave different, need, climb, snowy winter, and the rainy day is not suitable for visiting very much. Try hard to avoid noon in summer of visiting time, relatively shine, need supplementary a large amount of water. Drive way very convenient for walking, sleet weather you had better careful by oneself.

The rock cave art is Buddhism art, it has reflected Buddhism thought and course taken place, developed, ones that create it like, Bodhisattva, arhat, defend the doctrine,and Buddha line, various story image where Buddha grow originally, all create out through life image of concrete people. Therefore it can't cut off and contact with historical period people's life, it does not reflect social life directly like other arts, but it twists reflect all life scene period historical, personage of different levels. This should be a characteristic of a rock cave art.

Shapotou

Shapotou is a collection of desert, Yellow River, mountains and oasis and possessed wonderful scenery of the northwest characteristics. At the same time, it also possessed the elegance of Jiangnan scenery. It is a state-level desert ecology nature protection area. It is where the 11 sand slope of bell locus is located and is one of the three big cry sands in China. It was awarded the title of honor of “the 500 global environmental protection units” by the United Nations in 1994 and is called “the sand city” by the common people.

Outside of Zhongwei there is a large tourist attraction at the small village of Shapotou. The attraction sits on the Yellow River at the point where the deserts to the north-west (towards the Gobi) collide with the waters and form gigantic, steep-sided sand dunes. The tourist attraction operates around the theme of taking money from parents by encouraging children to have fun. Here is a quick run down of how it works:
Playing around on the dunes is technically free, but getting a chairlift to the top is not (and being Chinese, not too many people will be walking up), Stelae inside the TempleAt least some sections of the temple were normal.and neither is sliding down the dunes on a toboggan (20 kuai for that pleasure). Camel rides, horse rides, a swimming pool, a zipline across the river, bungy jumping into the river, a jet boat trip on the river, rafting on the river, or lazily tubing down the river also costs a large chunk of money, as does eating, drinking and most other enjoyable activities in the area. To put it simply, I'd go broke if I ever took a child there as just occupying their time would cost in excess of a weeks salary even if they didn't have expensive tastes.

Thankfully though, it was a rainy day when we visited so the place was almost totally devoid of tourists which meant we could explore the beautiful dunes in peace. We restrained ourselves enough so that we didn't pay for any of the "rides" but we did try running full pelt down the side of the sand dunes (I won the race by a good thirty seconds). Had we been there on a different day then it probably would have been a whole lot less fun.

Sand Lake

The Sand Lake is one of the Top 35 Scenic Spots in China.
If you love both the desert and the world of water, Sand Lake in northwest China is an ideal choice. Located in Pingluo County, Ningxia Autonomous Region, 56 kilometers north of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxa, Sand Lake is more than 80 sq km in area, including 45 sq km of lakes and over 22 sq km of desert. This unique, natural scenery attracts millions of visitors from China and abroad.
Sand Lake is one of the best places for bird watching in all of China, as it is home to 198 species and over one million birds, including the white and black cranes, swans, gray storks, and the Chinese wild ducks. In spring, birds lay eggs in reed marshes. In summer and autumn, birds contend in singing, and cover the sky when flying. Watching birds in the Sand Lake has been listed as one of the items of the Ecotour China '99. Every year during spring and autumn, and endless stream of migratory birds stop at Sand Lake. The Bird-watching Tower, equipped with state-of-the-art telescopes holds hundreds of people. Sand Lake is a paradise for the birdwatcher as well as a great variety of birds, including white cranes, black cranes, red-crowned cranes, swans, wild ducks and mandarin ducks. Besides natural beauty, Sand Lake also offers you more than thirty recreational opportunities. Some are only for the adventurous but less strenuous activities are available, such as water-motorcycling, wind surfing, and sand dune slides.

Food in Ningxia Muslim Dishes

Food in Ningxia is mainly featured by Muslim flavors. There are various local snacks mostly featuring the flavor of the Hui people.

Muslim Dishes

Rince-Mutton

Mutton in Ningxia is fresh and tender, and its smell is not strong. Slices of mutton can be boiled and serve together with various ingredients, Chinese cabbage, and vermicelli made from pea starch.
Grabbed Mutton

This dish has been popular for 1,000 years. The grabbed mutton, cooked with sheep ribs, is one of the traditional flavors of the Hui people in Ningxia, and is fresh, tender, and fragrant.
Steamed Dove-Fish

The dove-fish is a special fish live in the torrents of the Yellow River water. For hundreds of years, it has been a tribute to the royal court. Shaped like a peony in blossom, it is one of the famous traditional dishes in Ningxia.
Mutton with Wolfberry Fruits

Tanyang, a kind of sheep raised in Ningxia, and wolfberry fruits, are native products of Ningxia. Fry the slices of mutton and the soaked wolfberry fruits, then serve. This dish is pleasant to the taste, and nutritious. It is a common medicinal dish in local Ningxia.

Local Snacks

Fried Cake

The fried cake is round, with a big hole in the middle. It is red in color, delicious, and scorched outside and tender inside.
Deep-Fried Twisted Dough Sticks

The deep-fried twisted dough sticks are mostly cooked on festive occasions, such as the Lesser Bairam and the Corban (Animal Slaughtering) festivals. It is delicious and crisp, and unique in shape.
Eight-Treasured Tea

One of the most favorite drinks of the Hui people in Ningxia, the Eight-Treasured Tea consists of tea, ice sugar, longan, sesame, raisin, dried apricot, wolfberry fruits, and jujube. It is usually served with a teacup with lid and saucer.
Chopped Cooked Entrails of Sheep

The entrails include sheep's head, its lung, liver, and tripe, which are boiled with pepper oil, onion, chilli, and gourmet powder.
Gruel of Sweetened, Fried Flour

The gruel of sweetened, fried flour is made of flour, the fat of sheep or cattle, salt, onion, and gourmet powder. Served after stirring with boiling water, it can appease one's hunger and quench one's thirst.
Wide Noodles

Cut the thin cake made of filtered flour into strips. Serve with ingredients, such as vinegar, soybean sauce, salt, and hot pepper oil. It is the most popular snack in summer because it can relieve heat.

Ningxia

Ningxia borders the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region.
Rivers that flow through Ningxia include the Yellow River. Ningxia is a relatively dry, desert-like region. There is significant irrigation in order to support the growing of wolfberries (a commonly consumed fruit throughout the region).
Ningxia's deserts include the Tengger desert in Shapotou. 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 landslides created more than 40 new lakes.
In 2006, satellite images indicated that a 700 by 200-meter fenced area within Ningxia –35 km southwest of Yinchuan, near the remote village of Huangyangtan – is a near-exact scaled-down 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.

Ningxia is the home of the Hui, one of the officially recognized Chinese minority groups.While some Hui are ethnically indistinguishable from the Han (the major Chinese ethnic group), many Hui retain Central Asian and Middle Eastern genetic features, most notably Arabs and Persians, such as dark skin and lighter-colored eyes in addition to their Islamic clothing. As a stop along the legendary Silk Road, the Hui were influenced by the Islamic traders and became Muslims.
One of Ningxia's main tourist spots is the famous Xixia Tombs site located 30 km west of
Yinchuan. The remnants of nine Western Xia emperors' tombs and two hundred other tombs lie
within a 50-km² area. Other famous sites in Ningxia include Helan Shan, the mysterious 108
dagobas, the twin pagodas of Baisikou and the desert research outpost at Shapatou.

Xixia Tombs

108 Dagobas lie in desert near Qingtongxia shi

108 Dogobas are located under the cliff of Qingtong Gorge Reservoir and are 60 kilometers south from Ningxia, Yinchuan. It consists of 108 pagodas. It is one of the few ancient pagoda complexes in China.It is a large-scale ancient tower group.

Shapotou desert

Shapotou is a large region in Ningxia Province, China, noted for the Tengger Desert.
It is the site of the world-renowned Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station. The
research station is located at the southern end of the dune sea on the banks of the Huang
He (Yellow River). Research at station includes dune stabilization using grasses and
microbial mats. Regions stabilized in the 1950's are now used for fruit and vine crops.
Sand dune stabilization in the region is required to curtail burial of the the trans-Asia
Baolan railway.

Liupan Mountain is located in south Ningxia. This is an area famous for its picturesque scenery and it certainly lives up to its reputation as the 'green islet'.

Sand Lake Scenic Resort is the national tourist trump card for those looking for a place with a lake, sand dunes, reeds, birds and fish. During the May-September period, the lake becomes a veritable paradise for a dozen or so varieties of precious bird species, such as swans, white and grey cranes, black storks, and wild geese.