Between the Song in the south and the steppe in the north, a third state held the Gansu corridor and the Ordos loop for nearly two centuries. The Western Xia (西夏, 1038–1227) were Tangut, not Han and not Mongol, and they were powerful enough that the Song paid them off. Genghis Khan died on campaign against them, and the conquest that followed was so complete that the Western Xia are the one major Chinese dynasty with no dynastic history written for it.
Their capital was here. Yinchuan is the capital of Ningxia, a small autonomous region on the Yellow River whose irrigated plain has been called 塞上江南, the Jiangnan beyond the frontier, since long before the Tanguts arrived.
Why this matters now#
On 11 July 2025 the Western Xia Tombs were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List at the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, becoming China's sixtieth World Heritage property. Very little English travel writing has caught up. If you want a major World Heritage site in China with no crowds, this is currently the best answer available.
How long you need#
Two to three nights. The tombs and the rock art are each half-day trips in different directions out of the city, the in-town pagodas and the museum fill a day between them, and the wine estates on the Helan foothills are worth a fourth half-day if that interests you.
The sights#
| Site | Chinese | Address | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Xia Tombs | 西夏陵 | 银川市西夏区, eastern foot of the Helan range | ~30 km west; taxi or tour |
| Helan Mountain rock art | 贺兰山岩画 | 银川市贺兰县金山乡 | ~50 km northwest; taxi or tour |
| Chengtian Temple Pagoda | 承天寺塔 | 银川市兴庆区进宁南街 | Central, walkable |
| Haibao Pagoda | 海宝塔 | 银川市兴庆区民族北街 | North of the centre; taxi |
| Ningxia Museum | 宁夏博物馆 | 银川市金凤区人民广场东街6号 | Taxi |
The Western Xia Tombs (西夏陵) spread across roughly fifty square kilometres of gravel plain at the eastern foot of the Helan mountains: nine imperial mausolea and, by the count in the World Heritage inscription, 271 subordinate tombs. What survives above ground are great tamped-earth cores, eroded into blunt stepped cones, standing alone against the mountains. They have been a national protected monument since 1988.
Helan Mountain rock art (贺兰山岩画) is a national protected site of 1996: thousands of figures pecked into the rock of the gorges by successive peoples of the northern steppe. The one everyone photographs is the so-called sun god, a face with radiating lines cut around the head.
Chengtian Temple Pagoda (承天寺塔), the West Pagoda, was founded in 1050 by the mother of a Western Xia emperor. An earthquake in 1739 destroyed it and it was rebuilt in 1820, so what you climb is Qing work on a Tangut foundation — which is a fair summary of what survives of this empire generally.
Haibao Pagoda (海宝塔), the North Pagoda, has been a nationally protected monument since 1961, in the very first batch. Its founding date is unknown, which is itself unusual.
The script that was lost#
In 1036 the Tangut ruler Li Yuanhao ordered a writing system created for his own language. The result, developed by the official Yeli Renrong, ran to more than six thousand characters — Chinese in principle, unreadable to a Chinese reader in practice, and denser on the page than the script it was modelled on.
After the Mongol conquest of 1227 it fell gradually out of use; the latest known inscription in it dates to around 1502. Then nobody could read it at all. When the scholar Zhang Shu identified a bilingual Tangut stele in 1804, no one alive knew what the other half said. A French scholar established what the script was in 1898, and systematic decipherment only got going in the twentieth century, on the back of enormous caches of Tangut documents recovered from the desert.
That is the thing to hold in mind at the tombs. This was a literate empire with its own writing, and it went dark for six centuries.
Food and wine#
Ningxia is lamb country. 手抓羊肉, hand-grabbed lamb — bone-in ribs and saddle, boiled and then steamed so the fat renders out — is the regional dish, made with the local Tan sheep breed. 羊杂碎, a spiced soup of lamb offal, is the everyday street version and is what people actually eat in the morning.
The surprise is the wine. The eastern foothills of the Helan mountains (贺兰山东麓) are a designated wine region at around 38° north, and Yinchuan's own government describes it as the Chinese region that has won the most international awards. Estates are scattered along the foothills between the city and the mountains, several of them within reach of the tombs, and the region is a genuine reason to come rather than a curiosity.
Getting there and around#
The Yinchuan–Xi'an high-speed railway opened on 26 December 2020, cutting a journey that had taken about fourteen hours down to roughly three. That single line is why Yinchuan is now a reasonable addition to a Xi'an trip rather than a special expedition. Yinchuan also has an international airport.
Yinchuan has no metro. It has never received national approval to build one. The single piece of rail transit in the city is a short straddle-monorail loop at the flower expo park, opened in 2017 as a demonstration line; it runs as a park attraction rather than as transport, and its operation has been intermittent — a maintenance suspension in September 2024 had no announced end date. Do not plan around it. In the city use taxis and ride-hailing; for the tombs and the rock art, a hired car or a tour is the practical option.
Frequently asked questions#
Is Yinchuan worth visiting?#
Yes, if you have an interest in Chinese history beyond the standard dynasties. It holds China's newest World Heritage site, the remains of an empire almost no foreign visitor has heard of, major prehistoric rock art and a serious wine region — with a fraction of the visitors those things would draw anywhere else.
Does Yinchuan have a metro?#
No. Yinchuan has no metro system and has not been approved to build one. There is a short monorail loop at the flower expo park that operates as an attraction, not as transport. Get around by taxi or ride-hailing.
When did the Western Xia Tombs become a World Heritage site?#
On 11 July 2025, at the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. They are China's sixtieth World Heritage property.
Who were the Western Xia?#
A Tangut-led state that ruled China's northwest from 1038 to 1227, alongside the Song to the south and the Liao and later Jin to the northeast. They had their own script, their own Buddhist tradition, and were destroyed by the Mongols — after Genghis Khan died during the campaign against them.
How do I get to Yinchuan?#
By high-speed rail from Xi'an in about three hours, on the line that opened in December 2020, or by air. Yinchuan is the capital of Ningxia in northwest China.
How many days do you need in Yinchuan?#
Two to three nights. The tombs and the rock art are separate half-day trips out of the city in different directions, and the pagodas and museum fill the time between them.
For where the Western Xia sit among the dynasties, see Chinese history for travellers; for booking the high-speed train from Xi'an, see the guide to transport in China.