Tourist Attractions:Xixia Mausoleum: Xixia Mausoleum is located in the east of Helan Mountain, about 30km away from Yinchuan. It is the royal mausoleum of Xixia dynasty, with 53 square kilometers' area. 9 emperor's mausoleums lie here, together with 253 buried tombs. As one of China’s largest and most complete imperial tombs now, the mausoleum has been listed to the national key cultural relics protection unit and the national key scenic spot in 1988 by the state council. It is known by the world as "the mysterious miracle" and "Oriental pyramid".
108 Towers of Qingtong Gorge:The 108 towers lie on a cliff in the west of Qingtong Gorge reservoir. Since the number of all the towers is one hundred and eight, this scenic spot is commonly known as 108 towers.
According to research, the 108 towers were built during Xixia Dynasty. When the weather is fine and sunny, the group of towers reflected in the glittering lake is really a beautiful and unique scenery. The towers all sit west toward the east, fronting water and with hills on the back. They are built along the mountain, from the mountain’s top to its bottom, strewn according to the odd arrangement. The whole towers form an equilateral triangle, with one, three, three, five, five, seven, nine towers on each stage. In addition to the first tower at the mountain’s top is bigger, the rest are small. All the towers are built with bricks and wiped with lime, belonging to lama solid tower. The general layout of the towers is of unique style. Actually they are the buddhist monuments. Buddhism believes people have 108 kinds of worries. In order to get rid of many troubles in life, believers should wear 108 penetrated beads and chant scripture 108 times. It is said that as long as visitors send their thanks and wishes to the towers, their worry will be eliminated and good fortune will come.
Yinchuan Drum Tower:Yinchuan Drum Tower is located in the crossing of Liberation East-west Street and North-south Drum Tower Street. It is also known as "Cross Drum Tower", "Four Drum Tower", commonly known as the "Drum Tower". The tower is 36 meters high, covering an area of 576 square meters. It is made up of pedestal, pavilions and horn lane. The pedestal is 24 meters in length and 8.5 meters high. This tower is of heritage significance to Yinchuan.
Ancient Ferry (jetty)of Yellow River:The ferry lies along the east coast of the Yellow River, more than 15km away to the east of Yinchuan. Besides the Yellow River and its turbulent rushes, there are also ancient ferry of the Great Wall, boundless sand dunes, beautiful pastoral, world-known Shuidonggou paleolithic site, Jinshui tourist resorts and Xixia studio. Now, a Yellow River bridge has built over the ancient ferry. This place is close to Hedong airport, the biggest airport of Ningxia and it is really one of the best places to visit.
Ning Garden:The first small garden with buildings adopting Qing dynasty’s style. Ning Garden is completed during the National Day, 1987.
The garden is located in the south of the Liberation East Street, Xingqing District, Yinchuan, and built by Gujian Company from Shanxi. You can enter bonsai area through the west gate. This small garden is mainly made up by Xingqing Temple, Qinming Pavilion, monuments, galleries and pond. Xingqing Temple is the tallest palace of the garden. Murals named "Xixia Fengyun" in Xingqing Temple reproduce politics, economy, culture, military and local conditions and customs during the Xixia kingdom period. A white marble stone lies in the square pond, which is in front of Xingqing Temple. The left of the temple is Qinming Pavilion, the right is a corridor of steles connected by four-corners and six- corners pavilions. Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu and some other calligrapher’s works are engraved on the wall of the corridor. North of the east area is a group of large rockery, with ponds, pergola, lotus pond for visitors to take a rest.
Licorice:Licorice is a Chinese herbal tonic with medicinal quality. Its root and rhizome are the medicinal parts. The root is cylindrical, about 25~100cm long and 0.6~3.5cm in diameter, normally red-brown or brown in colour. Rhizome is cylindrical, with bud mark on the surface and pith in central section. It has a special sweet taste and is good for heat-clearing and detoxifying, relieving cough and eliminating phlegm, etc. The plant grows well in sunny place with long sunshine, low temperature and dry climate. Licorice is mostly grown in arid and semi-arid desert steppe, desert margins and loess hilly area.
Helan stone:Helan stone, also believes to be an auspicious stone, Bizi (“green blue”) stone, stands at the first place of Ningxia five treasures. Helan stone is known to all as the “Sapphire” of Ningxia. It is produced on the cliff about 2,600 meters high of Helan Mountain. Helan stone formed 1.3 billion years ago, due to changes in the crust and sedimentation. It belongs to sedimentary rock.
Local sheepskin:made from local species of lamb that is about 45 days old. It has long and soft hair and its color is mostly pure white, a few is pure black. The sheepskin is mainly produced in Yinchuan, salt pond and Zhongwei in Ningxia, Helan Mountain in Inner Mongolia and Jingyuan in Gansu. There is no such kind of sheepskin in the fur center of Hebei.
Wolfberry:There are three types of wolfberries, commodity wolfberry, Ningxia wolfberry and Chinese wolfberry. Ningxia wolfberry is widely used for eating and medicine and it is the only recorded variety in Chinese Pharmaceutical Encyclopedia 2010 Edition. At the same time, the cultivation area of Ningxia wolfberry is the largest in China. Ningxia wolfberry is mainly distributed in northwest China, and the Chinese wolfberry and its variants are commonly seen in other areas.