YINCHUAN: When I arrived here on Monday, I was not expecting much from this capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region: After all, Yinchuan is undoubtedly one of the least famous provincial capitals in China.

However, there could be a good reason for that.

About six years ago, a Chinese-language newspaper referred to the city as "the capital of Gansu", which, not surprisingly, upset the governments and people of both Yinchuan and Lanzhou, the actual Gansu capital. Media on both sides debated and contested the misprint, each keen to prove their city was more famous than the other.

No one can say who won the media war, but the fact remains that Yinchuan is still relatively unknown.

It does have its attractions, however, such as the ancient mausoleums of the rulers of the Xixia Kingdom (1038-1227), which can be found about 30 km outside the city.

The oldest parts of Yinhcuan were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as the new regional capital, after the Mongols sacked the former capital of the Xixia Kingdom.

Despite its long history, my first impression of Yinchuan was that it looks brand new. It is divided into old and new districts, both of which feature wide streets and long rows of shops, restaurants and apartment buildings, much like any other large city.

The most impressive piece of architecture in the downtown area is the Beiguan Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Ningxia. But most of the other noticeable buildings, however, are government offices built in a Western style: One of them even looks like a copy of the Capitol Building in Washington DC, home of the United States Congress.

The reason why Yinchuan looks so new is because it is. Many of its buildings are less than 20 years old, built during the recent decades of relative prosperity for a city that had long been one of China's poor places.

In an effort to make downtown Yinchaun more attractive, over recent years, the city government has funded the construction of several man-made lakes, created by diverting water from the Yellow River into the local Aiyi River. Its aim is to turn Yinchuan into the "Lake City of the Desert".

A local, who declined to give his name, said: "At first, people couldn't understand what the government was doing, and we thought it was a big waste of money.

"But the lakes have turned out to be really beautiful."