Yinchuan is the capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, and former capital of the Western Xia E
mpire of the Tanguts. It has an area of 4,467 sq km and an estimated population of 1.2 million .
Yinchuan is a multi-nationality city including Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian, and Chaoxian peoples. Among them, the Hui people account for 26.3 percent of the total population and they have maintained the traditional folk customs and life style that are unique to other ethnic group.
Yinchuan has a temperate continental climate with an annual average temperature of 8.5C, and has 158 frost-free days. Annual rainfall averages 200 millimeters. Coordinates:
History
Yinchuan originally was a xian (county) under the name of Fuping in the 1st century BC; its name was changed to Huaiyuan in the 6th century AD. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, it was occupied by the Tangut Peoples’ Xi-Xia dynasty, of which it was the capital. After the destruction of the Xi-Xia dynasty by the Mongols in 1227, it came under the rule of the Mongol dynasty. Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, it was the fu (prefecture) of Ningxia. In 1928, when the province of Ningxia was 
formed from parts of Gansu and Inner Mongolia, it became the capital city. In 1954, when Ningxia province was abolished, the city was put in Gansu province; but, with the establishment of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in 1958, Yinchuan once again became the capital.
Traditionally, Yinchuan was an administrative and commercial center. In the 1950s it had many commercial enterprises, and there were some handicrafts but no modern industry. The city has since grown considerably. Extensive coal deposits discovered on the eastern bank of the Yellow River, near Shizuishan, 100 km to the north, have made Shizuishan a coal-mining center.
