Explore The Yellow River
The capital of Ningxia, YINCHUAN (银川, yínchuān) is a bland modern city possessing little of tourist interest, and is frustratingly spread out, even by Chinese standards. However, it’s worth dropping by to see some excellent historical sights on the city’s periphery: from 1038 Yinchuan (then Xingqing) was capital of the Western Xia kingdom, an independent state which survived for less than two hundred years. It was virtually forgotten about until the early twentieth century, when the archeological remains of the kingdom started being recognized for what they were; you should definitely make a visit to their weathered mausoleums, some 20km outside the city.
-
The Xi Xia kingdom
The Xi Xia kingdom
The ancient feudal Xi Xia kingdom (Western Xia Kingdom; 1038–1227 AD) encompassed a vast expanse of land, overlapping regions of what is now Ningxia, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Established by the nomadic Dangxiang clan of Qiang ancestry, the kingdom had twelve kings and developed its own written language, which combines influences from Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese. The Xi Xia territory survived prior to independence by playing off the Song or Liao dynasties against each other. In 1038, Li Yuanhao, leader of Xi Xia, was militarily powerful enough to oppose Song jurisdiction and thus this third kingdom was created. A prosperous period ensued as the kingdom benefited from controlling the trade routes into central Asia. The new era saw a time of great cultural development, a state academy was erected, and future officials took Confucian examinations. Less emphasis, however, was placed on military matters, and in 1227 the Xi Xia were obliterated by the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan.
