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China Elevator Stories
Yinchuan, Ningxia: Old Town (China Travel)
I visited the old town in Yinchuan in January 2026.
29/01/2026
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
Yinchuan is Ningxia’s beautiful capital, and it is quite unique, I have to say. The city itself isn’t unique—at least not the parts where people live and work. These areas look more like a small town than a provincial capital, which comes with its own kind of charm. It isn’t as modern as some other larger cities in China, but it is well worth visiting and staying for one to three full days.
You can visit the Western Xia Imperial Tombs, which are located about 20 km outside of town, and take a bus either to one tomb (20 yuan) or to several tombs (which would have cost 80 yuan in total). I chose the 20-yuan option, since this already gave me a good impression of what the tombs look like, and I still wanted to visit the old buildings in the “old town” later that day.
There was no entrance fee, and the area is simply magnificent. The tombs are set against a dramatic mountain backdrop and are an important part of Chinese history. They were imperial mausoleums of the Western Xia Dynasty, which existed from the 11th to the 13th century. The people of this dynasty are believed to have vanished at the end of its rule, and although some written records remain, not much information is available about the Tangut, the ethnic group they belonged to.
They had to fight against other powerful empires at the time and eventually lost after more than 200 years of conflict. Their burial site remains, allowing visitors to see evidence of this once-magnificent culture that inhabited the area.
The architecture of the tombs shows that they were highly developed, and the Western Xia are considered one of the high cultures that once ruled over the region.
In Yinchuan’s city center, a few old buildings remain (some of them renovated): the Drum Tower, the South Gate Tower, and Chengtian Temple Pagoda, among others. I refer to this area as Yinchuan Old Town, though this is not its official name.
Have you ever been to Yinchuan?