Yinchuan Hotels

Yinchuan, the capital of present-day Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (aka Ningxia) and the capital of the former Western Xia (CE 1038-1227) Dynasty of the Tanguts, which dynasty was toppled by Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes, was one of China's early outposts of civilization.* Throughout its history, the city of Yinchuan has seen a series of wars between and among various ethnic groups vying for dominance over this important trade and cultural hub, which turmoil may seem surprising, given the city's present-day relaxed inter-ethnic atmosphere. But the city has not only seen the vicissitudes of war, it has also experienced more than its share of shifting boundaries. During the Ming (CE 1368-1644) and Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasties, the city of Yinchuan formally became the prefecture of "Ningsxia", but when a province of the same name was created in 1928 out of parts of Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia (i.e., during the period of the Republic of China, which had superceded Imperial China's Qing Dynasty), Yinchuan got its name back and became the capital of the new province. In 1954, under the People's Republic of China, Ningxia Province was abolished, and the territory belonging to it was re-absorbed into Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia, with the city of Yinchuan becoming a city in Gansu Province. However, only four years later, in 1958, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was formed, and the parts of the former Ningxia Province that had been lost to Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia again became part of Ningxia. Once again, Yinchuan became the capital of Ningxia, this time not of a province, but of an autonomous ethnic region (the Hui ethnic group, Ningxia's largest ethnic minority group, are Muslims).