Ningxia is located in northwest China and the upper reaches of the Yellow River with a land area of 66,400 km2. It has jurisdiction over five prefecture-level cities, namely Yinchuan City, Shizuishan City, Wuzhong City, Guyuan City and Zhongwei City, and 22 counties (county-level cities or districts). Ningxia is home to 7.25 million permanent residents by the end of 2021, among which 2.54 million are Hui people, accounting for 35.04% of the total population. Ningxia is also one of the five ethnic minority autonomous regions in China.

Ningxia boasts a long history and splendid culture. There were human beings living here as early as 30,000 years ago in the Paleolithic period. In the third century BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, established Beidi Shire here after he unified China, with settlements of his troops introducing irrigation works and initiating the history of diverting the Yellow River for irrigation. In 1038 AD, the Tangut leader Li Yuanhao built the State of Xia, later known as the Western Xia, with the present Ningxia as its center and Xingqing Prefecture as its capital (now Yinchuan City). Ningxia Province was established in January, 1929. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Ningxia was brought under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province in 1954. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established on October 25, 1958, ushering in a new era of equality, mutual assistance, common development and progress among all ethnic groups living here.

Ningxia is endowed with enchanting natural scenery and magnificent mountains and rivers. It is no exaggeration that Ningxia can be called a miniature bonsai of China’s ecological landscape thanks to its diverse landforms. There is no shortage of gently rolling plains, towering mountains, long winding rivers, boundless green lakes, magnificent deserts and picturesque water towns. The spectacular view of sunset reflected on the Yellow River and solitary smoke curling upwards in the desert has fascinated people for thousands of years. As a saying goes, the Yellow River brings great prosperity to Ningxia. The Yinchuan Plain came into being thanks to the Yellow River, which flows through Ningxia for 397 kilometers, making Ningxia’s Yellow River irrigation area an oasis in the hinterland. As the only north-south mountain range in north China, the Helan Mountains serve as a natural barrier in Ningxia. The Liupan Mountains, high and steep, are reputed as a green island on the Loess Plateau. Boasting rich tourism resources, Ningxia is listed as the second pilot autonomous region/province for all-for-one tourism in China and a unique tourist destination in west China.

Ningxia celebrates abundant resources and flourishing industrial development. With a long farming history and high-quality agricultural products, Ningxia has earned great reputation in the market. Specialty agricultural industries such as wine, goji, dairy products, beef cattle and Tan sheep are developing rapidly. Ningxia’s pioneering efforts in rural reforms and management have become fine examples nationwide. Its total grain output stood at 3.68 million tonnes in 2021, realizing good harvests for eighteen years in a row. The planting area of wine grapes have reached 525,000 mu (350 km²). Ningxia’s dairy cattle inventory is 702,000 head and it has raised 2.04 million head of beef cattle and 13 million head of Tan sheep respectively. Ningxia Goji ranks among the top ten Regional Public Brands of Agricultural Products in China. Located in the “Golden Triangle” of energy and chemical industry formed by Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and itself, Ningxia possesses rich energy resources and has more than 50 proven mineral resources. It has a coal reserve of 34.31 billion tonnes and a prospective reserve of 200 billion tonnes, ranking the sixth in the country. Its installed capacity of electricity is 62.14 million kilowatt, with the per capita electricity generation ranking the first nationwide. The world’s first one-million-kilowatt ultra-supercritical air-cooled fossil-fired power unit has been completed here. Ningxia is designated as China’s first comprehensive demonstration zone for new energy, as its installed capacity of solar and wind power takes up 45.7% of the total amount. The Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base is listed as one of China’s 14 large coal bases, with a coal chemical production capacity of about 25 million tonnes and an olefin production capacity of 3.2 million tonnes. The world’s largest single unit of coal-to-liquids project with an annual capacity of four million tonnes was completed and industrial clusters of coal-to-liquids, coal-to-olefin and fine chemicals have taken shape here. Modern service industries such as culture and tourism, modern logistics, modern finance, healthcare and old-age care, e-commerce, exhibition and exposition have gathered momentum. Ningxia’s big data industry is booming, as it hosts the National (Zhongwei) New Internet Exchange Center and strives to build itself into a national integrated computing hub, one of the only eight in China, at the same time. It is entrusted with the east-to-west computing resource transfer project. Ningxia has set up seven large-scale data centers including AWS China (Ningxia) Region, Meili Cloud and China Mobile. With these advantages, it has become an important data storage center in west China. As China’s first demonstration zone for Internet plus education and Internet plus healthcare, Ningxia’s development index of big data industry ranks the ninth nationwide and the first in west China.

Ningxia, open and inclusive, is a dream land for people to live and work in. As an important stop of the New Eurasian Land Bridge and the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, Ningxia is of great strategic significance along the Silk Road Economic Belt. The people of all ethnic groups in Ningxia enjoy great unity and harmony, helping each other as one family. The sense of community for the Chinese nation is also deeply rooted in their hearts. Ningxia has well-developed infrastructure and convenient transportation. Its expressway network stretches in all directions and it is the second province/autonomous region in west China where all counties have access to expressways. The Yinchuan Hedong International Airport has opened 140 routes to 87 cities in China. The Central Asian freight train from Yinchuan to Tehran was opened and connected with the Tianjin Port, realizing the rail-water transportation. Yinchuan-Xi’an high-speed railway was completed and has been put into service. Endowed with favorable conditions for opening up, Ningxia is building itself into the Inland Opening-up Pilot Economic Zone and the National Open Development Comprehensive Pilot Zone for Grape and Wine Industry. It has successfully held three sessions of the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum, five sessions of the China-Arab States Expo and two sessions of the China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo. It has established trade relations with more than 170 countries and regions around the world. With improving business environment and sufficient supply of land, water, electricity, gas, labor force as well as other production factors, Ningxia has become a sought-after destination for investment.