Editing Ningxia (section)

==Geography==
[[Image:Helanshan.jpg|thumb|left|From a cable car running to the top of [[Helan Mountains]].]]
Present-day Ningxia is one of the nation's smallest provincial-level units and borders the provinces of [[Shaanxi]] and [[Gansu]] and the [[Inner Mongolia|Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region]]. At 3556 meters above sea level, Aobaogeda ({{lang|zh-hans|敖包疙瘩}}) in the [[Helan Mountains]] is the highest point in Ningxia.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 September 2014 |title=Dēng áobāo gēda shǎng juédǐng měijǐng |script-title=zh:登敖包疙瘩 赏绝顶美景 |language=zh |work=Fènghuáng zīxùn |url=http://news.ifeng.com/a/20140902/41825100_0.shtml |access-date=6 November 2018}}</ref>

Ningxia is a relatively dry, desert-like region and features a diverse geography of forested mountains and hills, table lands, deserts, flood plains and basins cut through by the [[Yellow River]]. The Ningxia ecosystem is one of the least studied regions in the world. Significant [[irrigation]] supports the growing of [[wolfberry|wolfberries]], a commonly consumed [[fruit]] throughout the region. Ningxia's deserts include the [[Tengger desert]] in [[Shapotou]].

The northern section, through which the Yellow River flows, supports the best agricultural land. A railroad, linking [[Lanzhou]] with [[Baotou]], crosses the region. A highway has been built across the Yellow River at Yinchuan.

On 16 December 1920, the [[1920 Haiyuan earthquake|Haiyuan earthquake]], 8.6 magnitude, at {{coord|36.6|105.32}}, initiated a series of landslides that killed an estimated 200,000 people. Over 600 large [[loess]] landslides created more than 40 new lakes.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Close |first1=U. |last2=McCormick |date=1922 |title=Where the Mountains Walked |magazine=National Geographic Magazine |language=en |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=445–464}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Feng |first1=X. |title=Proceedings, IVth International Conference and Field Workshop on Landslides |last2=Guo |first2=A. |date=1985 |publisher=Japan Landslide Society |location=Tokyo |pages=339–346 |language=en |chapter=Earthquake Landslides in China}}. (1985) "</ref>
{{Islam and China|places}}

===Grasslands===
It was reported that approximately 34 percent (33.85 million [[Mu (unit)|mu]]; {{val|{{#expr:(33.85 * 1000000 * 0.00066667)round-2}}|fmt=commas|u=km2}}) of the region's total surface consisted of [[Grasslands of China|grassland]].<ref>Ningxia Bureau of Statistics, 2013, 1.2</ref> This figure is down from approximately 40 percent in the 1990s. The grasslands are spread over the dry desert-steppe area in the northeast (which forms a part of the Inner Mongolian steppe region), and the hilly pastures located on the semi-arid Loess Plateau in the south.<ref name="Ho 2016">{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2016 |title=Empty Institutions, Non-Credibility and Pastoralism: China's Grazing Ban, Mining and Ethnicity |journal=The Journal of Peasant Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1145–1176 |doi=10.1080/03066150.2016.1239617|s2cid=157632052 }}</ref> It is ascertained that the grasslands of Ningxia have been degraded to various degrees.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=Peter |last2=Azadi |first2=Hossein |date=2010 |title=Rangeland Degradation in North China: Perceptions of Pastoralists |journal=Environmental Research |language=en |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=302–307 |doi=10.1016/j.envres.2009.12.007 |pmid=20106474|bibcode=2010ER....110..302H }}</ref> Scientists debate the extent to which this degradation occurs over space and time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=P. |date=2001 |title=Rangeland Degradation in North China Revisited? A Preliminary Statistical Analysis to Validate Non-Equilibrium Range Ecology |journal=The Journal of Development Studies |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=99–133 |doi=10.1080/00220380412331321991 |s2cid=154397243}}</ref> Historical research has also found limited evidence of expanding grassland degradation and [[desertification]] in Ningxia.<ref name="Ho 2000">{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2000 |title=The Myth of Desertification at China's Northwestern Frontier: The Case of Ningxia Province, 1929–1958 |journal=Modern China |language=en |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=348–395 |doi=10.1177/009770040002600304 |s2cid=83080752}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2003 |title=Mao's War against Nature? The Environmental Impact of the Grain-First Campaign in China |journal=The China Journal |language=en |volume=50 |issue=50 |pages=37–59 |doi=10.2307/3182245 |jstor=3182245 |s2cid=144410824}}</ref> A major component of land management in Ningxia is a ban on open grazing, which has been in place since 2003.<ref>Zhou, Z. 2013. A view of Ningxia ten years since the grazing ban [Jìn mù yī nián kàn Níngxià]. People's Daily, 29 June. p. 10.</ref> The ecological and socio-economic effects of this Grazing Ban in relation to the grasslands and pastoralists' livelihood are contested.<ref name="Ho 2016"/> The ban stipulates that animal husbandry be limited to enclosed pens and no open grazing be permitted in certain time periods set by the Autonomous Region's People's Government.

===Climate===
{{climate chart
| Taole
| −14| 2| 1
| −12| 9| 5
| −4| 19| 4
| 1| 27| 19
| 10| 36| 18
| 14| 39| 40
| 19| 40| 70
| 17| 38| 48
| 11| 30| 58
| 4| 24| 18
| −6| 12| 4
| −12| 2| 1
|float=right
|clear=right
|source = <ref name="nasa">{{Cite web |title=NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index |url=http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/dataset_index.php |access-date=30 January 2016 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |language=en |archive-date=10 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510015442/https://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/dataset_index.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}
The region is {{convert|1,200|km}} from the sea and has an arid [[continental climate]] on the north to humid continental climate to the south, with average summer temperatures rising to {{convert|17|to|24|°C|°F|0}} in July and average winter temperatures dropping to between {{convert|−7|and|−15|°C|°F|0}} in January. Seasonal extreme temperatures can reach {{convert|39|°C|0}} in summer and {{convert|-30|°C}} in winter. The [[Day|diurnal]] temperature variation can reach above {{convert|17|°C-change}}, especially in spring. Annual rainfall averages from {{convert|190|to|700|mm|1}}, with more rain falling in the south of the region.

===Mineral resources===
Ningxia is rich in mineral resources with proven deposits of 34 kinds of minerals, much
of which located in grassland areas.<ref name="Ho 2016" /> In 2011 it was estimated that the potential value per capita of these resources accounted for 163.5 percent of the nation's average. Ningxia boasts verified coal reserves of over 30 billion tons, with an estimated reserve of more than 202 billion tons, ranking sixth nationwide. Coal deposits are spread over one-third of the total surface of Ningxia, and mined in four major fields in the Helan and Xiangshan mountains, Ningdong and Yuanzhou (or Guyuan). The region's reserves of oil and natural gas can be found in Yanchi and Lingwu County, and are ideal for large-scale development of oil, natural gas and chemical industries. Ningxia leads China in gypsum deposits, with a proven reserve of more than 4.5 billion tons, of which the rarely found, top-grade gypsum accounts for half of the total deposits. The Hejiakouzi deposit in Tongxin County features a reserve of 20 million tons of gypsum with a total thickness of 100 meters. There is a considerable deposit of quartz sandstone, of which 17 million tons have been ascertained. In addition, there are phosphorus, flint, copper, iron, barite, other minerals and Helan stone – a special clay stone.<ref name="britannica">{{Cite web |last1=Hsieh |first1=Chiao-min |last2=Falkenheim |first2=Victor C. |title=Ningxia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ningxia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027072307/https://www.britannica.com/place/Ningxia |archive-date=2016-10-27 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-03-16 |title=Níngxià kuàngchǎn zīyuán gàikuàng jí fēnbù |script-title=zh:宁夏矿产资源概况及分布 |trans-title=Overview and Distribution of Mineral Resources in Ningxia |url=http://www.chinabaike.com/z/keji/ck/543057.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112152114/http://www.chinabaike.com/z/keji/ck/543057.html |archive-date=2014-11-12 |website=Zhōngguó bǎikē wǎng |language=zh}}</ref>