Few foreign tourists venture here but, with its great mountains, desert landscapes and impressive ancient sites, Ningxia in northern China is an “exciting” place to visit, said Harriet Compston in The Times.
Ningxia looks tiny on a map of the country but it is nearly as big as Scotland. It was a province until 1958, when it became an autonomous region for the Hui people – a largely Muslim ethnic minority who make up 55% of its population. From Beijing, it takes two hours to fly to the regional capital, Yinchuan, a city of almost three million people where skyscrapers “mingle with ancient pagodas” and “tree-lined boulevards” are interspersed by large parks, and “immaculate” museums. In parts of the region, vineyards and orchards fed by the “mighty” Yellow River “unfurl” in an “otherwise parched landscape”.
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