Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (abbreviated as Ning) is situated by the upper and middle reach of the Yellow River, near the Helan Mountain.The total area of Ningxia is 66,400 square kilometers. Plain 31.5%, hilly land 23.5%, hills 36% and deserts 9%. The cultivatable land is 791,000 hectares (ha). Among them, paddy land 162,000 ha (20.5%), dry land 629,000 ha (79.5%). It is suitable for forestry, husbandry and agriculture. The favorable transport conditions and rich water sunshine resources make this place suitable for industrial and agricultural development.

Yinchuan Plain

Situated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, it covers an area between Helanshan and Erdousi Plateau, including Yinchuan, Wuzhong and Lingwu city. It is about 150 km long from north to south and 40 km wide from west to east. It is formed from alluvion of the Yellow River. The land is fecund and the sunshine is sufficient. It has a long history of development. The irrigation system has been constructed for a long history period. Because of the above,Yinchuan Plain is of high yield of rice and wheat, fruits and other economic crops.

Weining Plain

Situated in the upper and middle reach of the Yellow River, between the Tengeli desert and the loess plateau, including Zhongwei and Zhongning counties. It is 100 km long from north to south and 150 km wide from west to east,also formed from the alluvion of the Yellow River. Benefiting from the convenient irrigating system, it is also an important production base of Ningxia's agriculture.

South mountainous area

Situated in south of Ningxia, it includes Haiyuan, Guyuan, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan and Pengyang counties. There are numerous tablelands, hillocks and gullies, making the landform very complicated. It has poor transport condition and inadequate energy reserve. But owing to the semi-wet weather conditions, the mountain area is suitable for forestry and husbandry. The senery in this area is pretty good.It is one of the the tourism resorts of Ning Xia.

Forest

Ningxia belongs to the continental climate zone. Its climate is arid and the rainfall is scarce. There is very limited forest resources. According to the statistics of the Bureau of Forestry, the land of forests is about 835,000 ha, the forest-covered area is 106,000 ha. The forests of Ningxia can be divided into two major types: artificial forest and natural forest. Most of the natural forests are distributed in the Helanshan, Liupanshan and Luoshan. There are 32,000 ha of forest and bushes in these three places, and the living wood storage is about 2,052,200 m3. There are a few parts of natural forest in Lingwu, Yanchi, Qingtongxia, Haiyuan, Zhongwei and Tongxin counties, with a total area of 25,000 ha. The artificial forest is 68,000 ha. It can be sub-classified into shelter forest, commercial forest, economic forest and fuel forest. In the irrigated area of Northern Ningxia, the major task of forestation is to construct farmland shelter. In the middle part, the stress is to plant windbreak and sand-fixation forest. In the south mountainous area, the stress is to plant the water and soil conservation forest. Commercial forests are mainly scattered in the plains and windy, dusty and loess hilly areas. The economic forests are scattered across the whole region. The fuel forests are mainly located in the south mountainous area.

Grassland

There are approximately 301,400 ha of natural grassland in Ningxia. Among them the utilizable area is 2,697,000 ha.Their distribution is: Yinnan Region has 1,920,000 ha, Guyan Region has 681,000 ha, Shizuishan 260,000 ha, and Yinchuan, 155,000 ha. By their quality and yield, they can be classified into five classes and eight grades. In the five classes, the third class appears to be the major part, 55% of the total. In the eight grades, the major one is the sixth grade (1,500~3,000 kg per ha) and the seventh grade (750 ~ 1,500 kg per ha), The total area of these two grades are 2,280,000 ha, 76.1% of the natural grassland. Owing to the complex ecosystem, the grassland mode is also complex. There are 18 modes of grassland in the whole country, of which Ningxia has 11. Besides these natural grassland, there are 83,000 ha of artificial grassland of Ningxia.

Mountains

The major mountains of Ningxia are Helanshan Mountain in the northern part and Liupanshan Mountain in the southern part. Helanshan is 200 km long from north to south and 15 ~ 50 km wide from west to east. Most of its peaks are over 2,000 meters high. The highest is 3,556 meters above sea level. Its west side There is plenty of forest on its west side. Its east side is a fault zone which sits close against Yinchuan plain. It provides a natural shelter in the northern part of Ningxia, stopping the cold current from Siberia and flowing sands from Tengeli. There are several openings in these mountains as important lines of transport. The Liupanshan Mountain cuts across Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. It goes from south to north, about 240 km, most parts are over 2,000 meters elevation. The highest peak has the elevation of 2,942 meters, being the headstream of Jing River and Wei River. Because the ways to its top are much curved and there are 6 sharp turns from the foot to the top, it is called Liupanshan Mountain. Besides, there are other middle-scale mountains like Nanhuashan, Xihuashan, Yueliangshan, Luoshan, Xiangshan, Yunwushan and Niushoushan mountains in Ningxia.

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