Yinchuan Facts

Yinchuan, the city and capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is located in the heart of the Ningxia Plain, with the Yellow River in the east and Mt. Helan in the west. It can be found between the mountains and deserts of Gansu to the west and the rolling grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the east.
 

Yinchuan covers an area of 4,399 square kilometers and is 1,110 meters above sea level. It rapidly develops as a center of tourism, trade, finance, economy, culture, transportation, technology and science in the northwestern China.

Also, it is the major city for the agricultural market and distribution center of Ningxia; and also deals in agricultural and animal products from the farms and ranches and from the herds tended by nomads in the surrounding grasslands.

Yinchuan food is strongly influenced by Islamic, as about 30% of the population here is of the Muslim Hui Minority. Muslim restaurants and food stalls can be seen almost everywhere. The most common dishes are of the lamb and beef variety along with dumplings and noodles, varieties of naan style bread and blended teas.

Yinchuan constitutes one-third of the population of China Hui Minority; also it has remarkable cultural and economic relations with Islamic countries. Situated 22 miles towards the east of the city, there are a few imperial mausoleums and a few tombs of princes and dukes of the Xi Xia Dynasty.

Basic Information

Area Code: 0951

Zip Code: 750000

Geography
Yinchuan, to its west, it is adjacent to Alxa in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; to its north, it is close to Otog Banner in Inner Mongolia with the boundary the Ming Great Wall. Its region scope is in northern latitude 37 ° 29 '~ 38 ° 53', east longitude 105 ° 49 '~ 106 ° 53', with a total area of 9555.38 square kilometers. Yinchuan City topography is divided into two parts including mountains and plain. The west and south areas are high, while the north and east areas are low; and it has various types of landforms.

Population
By the end of 2010, the permanent population of Yinchuan City is about 2 million; among which, Xinqing District 0.7 million, Xixia District 0.33 million, Jinfeng District 0.28 million; these three districts constitute 64.81% of the total population of Yinchuan. Yongning County has the population of 0.2 million, accounting for 10.91% of the Yinchuan population; while Helan County has 0.22 million, accounting for 11.18%; Lingwu City has 0.26 million, accounting for 13.1%.

Administrative Division
Yinchuan consists of the following administrative divisions: 

Climate

Main climate features of Yinchuan are: four distinct seasons; spring comes late and summer is short; autumn comes early and winter is long; big temperature difference between day and night; scarce rain and snow; intense evaporation; dry climate; big wind and much sand, etc…Average annual temperature is about 8.5 ℃; annual average sunshine hours is between 2800 ~ 3 000 hours. It is one of the most solar radiation and sunshine time of China regions. Average annual rainfall is about 200 mm; and frost-free period is about 185 days.

Traffic

Yinchuan has formed a mixed three-dimensional transportation network system of highway, railway and aviation. Highway: there are six national roads towards all over China; Railway: Yinchuan has the Baolan Railway, Taizhongyin Railway, Baozhong Railway connecting with the countrywide national railway network; Aviation: Yinchuan Hedong Airport has opened airlines for the major cities in China, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xian, Wuhan, Kunming, Taiyuan, Urumqi, Jinan, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Qingdao, Dunhuang, etc…

National Characteristics

Yinchuan is a multi-ethnic area with complete 56 nationalities ingredients. Religion has a long history in Yinchuan; which includes Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Christian and Catholic.

People of the Hui Nationality believe in Islam; and mosque is the right place for Muslim to held religious activity. About 500 mosques with different form and size can be seen in Yinchuan City. As a religious buildings, mosque has an overall style of solemn; grand and elegant, but each has his strong point in concrete structure; rich and colorful. Yinchuan mosques are mostly Arab style, featuring the distinct characteristics of Islam.