Yinchuan 银川 ىٍ ﭼُﻮًا‎
—  Prefecture-level city  —
银川市
File:Yinchuan aerial.JPG
The territory of Yinchuan prefecture-level city (yellow) within Ningxia
Satellite image of Yinchuan
Yinchuan Location within China
Coordinates: 38°28′N 106°16′E / 38.467°N 106.267°E / 38.467; 106.267Coordinates: 38°28′N 106°16′E / 38.467°N 106.267°E / 38.467; 106.267
Country	People's Republic of China
Region	Ningxia
County-level divisions
Township divisions
Government
• CPC Yinchuan
• Mayor	Wang Rugui[1]
Area
• Prefecture-level city	4,467 km2 (1,725 sq mi)
• Urban	2,045 km2 (790 sq mi)
• Metro	2,045 km2 (790 sq mi)
Elevation	1,100 m (3,608 ft)
Population (2010 census)[2]
• Prefecture-level city	1,993,088
• Urban	1,290,170
• Urban density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
• Metro	1,290,170
• Metro density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	750000
Area code(s)	951
License plate prefixes	宁A
Website	www.yinchuan.gov.cn (Chinese)

Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, and former capital of the Western Xia Empire of the Tanguts. It has an area of 4,467 km² and a total population of 1.99 million. Its built up area is home to 1,290,170 inhabitants spread on 3 urban districts. The name of the city literally means "silver river"; the character for "river" (川) is the same as that in Sichuan, but not as those in, for example, the Yellow River (黄河) or Yangtze River (长江).

History[link]

Yinchuan originally was a xian (county) under the name of Fuping in the 1st century BC; its name was changed to Huaiyuan in the 6th century AD. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, it was occupied by the Tangut Xi-Xia dynasty, of which it was the capital. After the destruction of the Xi-Xia dynasty by the Mongols in 1227, it came under the rule of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, it was a prefecture of Ningxia. In 1928, when the province of Ningxia was formed from parts of Gansu and Inner Mongolia, it became the capital city. In 1954, when Ningxia province was abolished, the city was put in Gansu province; but, with the establishment of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in 1958, Yinchuan once again became the capital.

Traditionally, Yinchuan was an administrative and commercial center. In the 1950s it had many commercial enterprises, and there were some handicrafts but no modern industry. The city has since grown considerably. Extensive coal deposits discovered on the eastern bank of the Yellow River, near Shizuishan, 100 km to the north, have made Shizuishan a coal-mining center.

Yinchuan, however, remains largely nonindustrial. The immediate plains area, intensively irrigated by a system developed as long ago as the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, is extremely productive. Yinchuan is the chief agricultural market and distribution center for this area and also deals in animal products from the herds tended by nomads in the surrounding grasslands. It is a market for grain and has flour mills, as well as rice-hulling and oil-extraction plants. The wool produced in the surrounding plains supplies a woolen-textile mill. Yinchuan is a center for the Muslim (Hui) minority peoples, who constitute a third of the population. Yinchuan currently serves as a major trade route between Western cities such as Urumqi and the East.

On 23 July 1993 an airliner that was attempting its second takeoff veered off the runway, crashed into a lake, and broke apart; at least 59 of the 113 persons aboard the craft were killed.^[3]

Geography[link]

Yinchuan lies in the middle of the Yinchuan or Ningxia Plain. It is sheltered from the deserts of Mongolia by the high ranges of the Helan Mountain to its west. The Yellow River runs through Yinchuan from southwest to northeast. The average elevation of Yinchuan is 1,100 meters (about 3,608 feet). The urban center of Yinchuan lies about halfway between the Yellow River and the edge of Helan Mountain.

Climate[link]

Yinchuan has a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with cold and windy (but dry) winters, dust-laden springs, hot and somewhat humid summers, and rather short autumns. Monthly means range from −7.9 °C (17.8 °F) in January to 23.5 °C (74.3 °F) in July, with the mean for year at 9.0 °C (48.2 °F). Rainfall, is not heavy during any season, not even summer. Diurnal temperature differences tend to be large due to the aridity, which also partly contributes to the high annual sunshine hour total of just over 2,900 hours. There are 158 frost-free days.

Administrative divisions[link]

Map	#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Xiao'erjing	Population (2010)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
	City proper
	1	Xingqing District	兴庆区	Xīngqìng Qū	دٍ ﻓْﻊ ﺛُﻮ	678,306	768	883
	2	Jinfeng District	金凤区	Jīnfèng Qū	دٍ ﻓْﻊ ﺛُﻮ	282,554	290	974
	3	Xixia District	西夏区	Xīxià Qū	ثِ ﺷﯿَا ﺛُﻮ	329,310	987	334
	Satellite cities
	4	Lingwu City	灵武市	Língwǔ Shì	لٍ ءُ شِ	261,677	4,639	56
	Rural
	5	Yongning County	永宁县	Yǒngníng Xiàn	ﻳْﻮ نٍ ﺷِﯿًﺎ	218,260	1,295	169
	6	Helan County	贺兰县	Hèlán Xiàn	حْ لً ﺷِﯿًﺎ	222,981	1,600	139

Economy[link]

The city's gross domestic product per capita was ¥31,436 (US$4,526) in 2008, ranking 197th of 659 Chinese cities. Its main industries are the production of Chinese wolfberry, wheat, apple, and rice.^{[citation needed]}

Transportation[link]

• Yinchuan is located near the western bank of the upper course of the Yellow River, near the western end of the Great Wall of China in the south-central section of the Helan Shan and Ordos Desert.
• It is served by Yinchuan Hedong Airport.It is 25 km from Yinchuan and has flights to Beijing, Chengdu, Dunhuang, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xian, and Zhengzhou.
• It is served by a river port at Hengcheng, about 15 km to the east. Until the 1950s the river, which is navigable downstream as far as Baotou in the Inner Mongolian autonomous region and upstream to Zhongwei and Zhongning, was the chief communication link.
• Highways also link the city to Baotou along the river, to Lanzhou in Gansu province to the southwest, to Wuwei in Gansu to the west, and to Xi'an in Shaanxi province to the southeast.
• Since 1958 the city has been on the railway from Lanzhou to Baotou and is thus linked to other parts of China by rail.
• China National Highway 211

Yinchun Railroad station

Tourism[link]

A mosque in Yinchuan

A mosque in Yinchuan, China.

The city's attractions include the Sand-lake and the Western Xia tombs. Sand Lake is 35 miles north of Yinchuan. Being a world of desert and lake, it is an ideal place for bird watching, sand slide and cableway slide. Appreciating reeds, lotus and fish are also popular. The Western Xia Imperial Tombs are 15.5 miles west of Yinchuan on east side of Mt. Helan. Since June 1972, nine imperial tombs and 253 lesser tombs have been unearthed, which are as grand as Ming Tombs in Beijing. With a total area of more than 19.3 square miles, it is unique among royal burials.

There are two pagodas in Yinchuan that are part of the 'Eight Famous Scenery of Ningxia': one is the Haibao Pagoda in the northern suburb and the other is the Chengtiansi Pagoda in the west.

Since 2000, Yinchuan has hosted the annual Yinchuan International Car and Motorcycle Tourism Festival, which usually occurs in August. It is the largest event of its kind in China; approximately 3000 motorcycles attend annually.

It is also possible to see parts of the Great Wall which are located near the city.

Colleges and universities[link]

• Ningxia Polytechnical University
• Ningxia University
• Second Northwest Nationalities University
• Ningxia Medical Institute

The West Movie Studio in suburb of Yinchuan

2006 Internet phenomenon[link]

Yinchuan was subject to an Internet phenomenon after a user of Google Earth posted images of a People's Liberation Army military facility.^[4] The facility, estimated at around 630,000 m² in size, is 35 km from Yinchuan and in the town of Huangyangtan. The purpose of the facility was speculated on the Internet following the original posting, although no official explanation for the site has been given. A subsequent posting of a photograph on the Chinese wforum.com claimed that it constituted a terrain model of the disputed Aksai Chin region of China;^[5][6][7] the image includes a watermark of Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China.

Authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have been quoted as saying that the site is used as a tank training facility.^[8]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yinchuan

• Yinchuan Government website
• Weather forecast for Yinchuan in Ningxia (China), 1117 m
• The Yinchuan World Rock Art Museum

v t e Provincial capitals of the People's Republic of China Changchun, Jilin Changsha, Hunan Chengdu, Sichuan Fuzhou, Fujian Guangzhou, Guangdong Guiyang, Guizhou Haikou, Hainan Hangzhou, Zhejiang Harbin, Heilongjiang Hefei, Anhui Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Jinan, Shandong Kunming, Yunnan Lanzhou, Gansu Lhasa, Tibet Nanchang, Jiangxi Nanjing, Jiangsu Nanning, Guangxi Shenyang, Liaoning Shijiazhuang, Hebei Taiyuan, Shanxi Ürümqi, Xinjiang Wuhan, Hubei Xi'an, Shaanxi Xining, Qinghai Yinchuan, Ningxia Zhengzhou, Henan

v t e Major cities along the Yellow River Provinces and Autonomous regions Cities (from upper reaches to lower reaches) Gansu Lanzhou · Baiyin Ningxia Zhongwei · Wuzhong · Yinchuan · Shizuishan Inner Mongolia Wuhai · Ordos · Bayan Nur · Baotou · Hohhot (boundaries of upper and middle reaches) Shanxi Xinzhou · Lüliang · Linfen · Yuncheng Shaanxi Yulin · Yan'an · Weinan Henan Sanmenxia · Luoyang · Jiyuan · Jiaozuo · Zhengzhou(boundaries of middle and lower reaches)  · Xinxiang · Kaifeng · Puyang Shandong Liaocheng · Tai'an · Jinan · Dezhou · Binzhou · Zibo · Dongying

v t e Baotou–Lanzhou Railway (← Beijing–Baotou Railway) · Baotou East · Baotou · Baotou West · Haye Hutong · Baiyanhua · Gongmiaozi · Malashan · Urat Front Banner · Xixiaozhao · Wuyuan · Sifentan · Linhe District · Toudaoqiao · Bayan Gol · Hanggin Banner · Jiangui · Wuhai North · Wuhai · Wuhai West · Huinong District · Nuanquan · Yinchuan · Huangyangtan · Daba · Qingtongxia · Zhongning County · Huangyangwan · Zhongwei · Shapotou District · Gantang · Yingpanshui · Great Wall · Jingtai County · Xingquanbao · Hongxiantai · Hongshaxian · Bayin West · Zhujiayao · Fengshuicun · Gaolan County · Shaojiatang · Shuiyuan · Lanzhou East · Lanzhou · (Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway →) Connecting Railways: Baotou–Shenmu Railway · Baotou–Bayan Obo Railway · Baotou Ring Railway · Pingru Railway · Baotou–Zhongwei Railway · Gantang–Wuwei Railway · Honghui Railway · Longhai Railway

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

Abigail Washburn (born November 10, 1977 in Evanston, Illinois, USA) is an American clawhammer banjo player and singer. She performs and records as a soloist, as well as with the old-time bands Uncle Earl and Sparrow Quartet.

Biography[link]

Washburn was born in Evanston, Illinois and spent her elementary and part of her junior high school years in a suburb of Washington, D.C.. She attended high school in Minnesota, then attended Colorado College, where she was the school's first East Asian studies major. Following this, she spent some time living in China, where she had dreams of being a lawyer (having first visited that nation in 1996). She then spent three years in Vermont before moving to Nashville, Tennessee.^[1]

In Tennessee, she met KC Groves, one of the founding members of the band Uncle Earl and she went on to spend five years touring with the band. The "all G'earl" group has released two records on the Rounder Records record label, She Waits for the Night (2005) and Waterloo, TN (2007), which was produced by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

Washburn entered a songwriting contest at MerleFest (a bluegrass music festival in North Carolina), winning second place for her song "Rockabye Dixie", and gaining the attention of the Nettwerk record label.

Her first solo album, Song of the Traveling Daughter, was produced by Béla Fleck and features Ben Sollee, a cellist, and Jordan McConnell, guitarist for the Canadian traditional and soul music fusion band The Duhks. Two songs were recorded in the Mandarin Chinese language, which she learned while living in China.

In 2005, Washburn returned to China with a group called the Sparrow Quartet, composed of Sollee, Fleck and Grammy Award nominated fiddler Casey Driessen. The group then recorded an EP, Abigail Washburn The Sparrow Quartet.

In 2008, Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet recorded a full-length album, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet. It was produced by Béla Fleck and composed and arranged by the foursome.

After the release of the album, Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet turned their attention to touring North America, with appearances at festivals including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, MerleFest, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival and others. They returned to China for performances during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The quartet was later featured on National Geographic Live and, in 2009, each participated in the Clearwater Concert, a benefit concert in honor of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday that featured many of the world's most well-known musicians.^[2]

Inspired by a 2008 volunteer experience for Sichuan Quake Relief in China, Abigail joined forces with Shanghai Restoration Project's David Liang in March 2009 to create Afterquake. The benefit EP (a portion of each sale benefits Sichuan Quake Relief) was released on May 12, 2009, the one-year anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. Over the course of two weeks, Washburn & Liang recorded and produced the entire project, which features electronic mixes of student voices and sounds from the disaster zone, in Sichuan, China.

In early 2010, Washburn began recording her second solo album with producer Tucker Martine and collaborator Kai Welch [1].

Personal life[link]

In August 2007, Washburn was reported as being the "girlfriend" of Béla Fleck.^[3] In September 2008, Fleck was alleged to be the "boyfriend" of Abigail Washburn. In May 2009, the Bluegrass Intelligencer satirized the upcoming wedding of Washburn and Fleck, joking that the couple promise to have a "male heir" who will be the "Holy Banjo Emperor".^[4] In February 2010, The Aspen Times reported that Washburn had become Fleck's wife in the previous year.^[5] In a July 2010 interview, Washburn said she first met her husband in Nashville at a square dance—she was dancing and he was playing.^[6]

Discography[link]

Afterquake Music[link]

• Afterquake EP (2009)

The Sparrow Quartet[link]

• The Sparrow Quartet EP (2006)
• Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (2008)

Uncle Earl[link]

• She Waits for Night (2005)
• Waterloo, Tennessee (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Abigail Washburn official site
• Afterquake official site
• Article on Abigail Washburn's close relationship with China
• Bluegrass Over Beijing, by Ron Gluckman
• Abigail Washburn interview from Popmatters
• Official Myspace
• Official Facebook Page
• Review of 'City of Refuge' by Folk Radio UK
• Profile of Abigail Washburn on PBS NewsHour
• Abigail Washburn: Building US-China relations ... by banjo TED talk

Listening[link]

• Abigail Washburn at NPR Music
• Audio interview from National Public Radio Morning Edition program
• Audio samples from Song of the Traveling Daughter

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2010)

Xu Yinchuan (Chinese: 许银川) is currently considered to be one of the world's best players in xiangqi, or Chinese chess.

Xu was born in Huilai, Guangdong Province, China, in August 1975.^[1] He is one of a handful of grandmasters from Guangdong Province, which is notable for being the home of many famed grandmasters of xiangqi, including Yang Guanli, Cai Furu and Lu Qin. Xu's major achievements in xiangqi include but are not limited to the following:

• champion in Chinese National Xiangqi Individual Championship in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2006 and 2009;
• starter of the champion team of Guangdong in Chinese National Xiangqi League in 1989, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006;
• champion in the 7th Asian Xiangqi Individual Championship;
• starter of the champion team of China in the 7th, 8th and 9th Asian Xiangqi Championship;
• champion in the 6th, 8th and 10th World Xiangqi Individual Championship.

References[link]

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