NINGXIA
PROVINCE

This area of northwest China is very poor and backward and is closed to foreigners. Most of the region is desert. About a third of the four million people in Ningxia are local Muslims, the rest are Han Chinese, most of whom have been moved in by the government during the past 30 years. The main city is Yinchuan, which is also closed to foreigners and likely to remain so, although people travelling by train between Lanzhou and Baotou in Inner Mongolia pass through it.

There are occasional hints in the official press of friction between the local Muslims and the Chinese. One such was a report in 1981 that Muslims in the region were being required to make a 'pledge of patriotism'. 'A few people have said things which do not benefit unity and we must reeducate them,' said the local daily newspaper.