Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region

Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region 

an autonomous region in northern China. It has an area of 170,000 sq km and a population of more than 2.16 million (1971), consisting primarily of Chinese (Han), Hui (Dungans), and Mongols. The administrative center is Yinchuan. Most of the region lies at an elevation of about 1,000 m and has an arid climate. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture; about 1 million hectares are under cultivation. The Yinchuan Valley is an important center of irrigated farming and rice cultivation. Other major crops are wheat and other grains, cotton, and oil-seed plants. Livestock raising is also well developed.

The region has coal deposits (P’ing-lo). Electrical energy is supplied by the Yinchuan and Shih-chii-shan thermal power plants and the Ch’ing-tung-hsia hydroelectric power station. The region’s industries produce radios, electronic equipment, cotton goods (Yinchuan), woolen goods, and flour.

K. N. CHERNOZHUKOV

From the mid-17th century, the territory of the present Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region, known as Ningsia District, formed part of Kansu Province and was inhabited chiefly by Dungans (Hui) and Chinese. From 1862 until 1871 the area was caught up in the Dungan national liberation rebellion (1862–77). In 1928, Ningsia Province was created out of Ningsia District and two Mongolian khoshuns of Inner Mongolia. In 1935–36 the province’s southeastern regions, those bordering Kansu and Shensi provinces, were liberated by the Chinese Red Army from the Kuomintang reactionaries, and from 1936 until 1947 the area was part of the Frontier Region of Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia. In 1954, Ningsia Province was abolished, and its southeastern regions, populated by Chinese and Dungans, were incorporated into Kansu Province; the northwestern areas, inhabited by Mongols, became part of the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia. On Oct. 25, 1958, the Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region was created out of the districts of former Ningsia Province that had been attached to Kansu Province. Later, part of the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia was included in the Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region.

V. P. ILIUSHECHKIN