Lingwu (,

Xiao'erjing Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...

: لِئٍ‌وُ شِ) is a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...

Southwest China Southwest China () is a region in the south of the People's Republic of China. Geography Southwest China is a rugged and mountainous region, transitioning between the Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Chinese coastal hills (东南丘陵) and ...

, it is under the administration of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China ...

Yinchuan Yinchuan (, ; ) is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 Chinese census, and its buil ...

. It is the most important industrial city of Ningxia. Lingwu spans an area of , and according to the

2010 Chinese census The 2010 Chinese census, officially the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (中華人民共和國第六次全國人口普查), was conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China w ...

, Lingwu has a population of 261,677.

Toponymy

Lingwu was historically known as Lingzhou (,

: لِئٍ‌جِوْ).

History

During the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

, the area was absorbed into the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

under

Beidi Commandery Beidi Commandery ( zh, c=北地郡, l=Northern Land) was a commandery of the Qin and Han dynasties of China, located in what is now Ningxia. Its seat was Maling (馬領) during the Western Han period and Fuping (富平, near modern Wuzhong, Ning ...

. The area was first incorporated into the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

in 191 BCE by Emperor Hui. In 437 CE, under the Northern Wei, the area was incorporated as . In 526 CE, Bogulu Town was renamed as Lingzhou. In 756 CE, during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

, Emperor Suzong fled to Lingzhou during the

Anshi Rebellion The An Lushan Rebellion was an uprising against the Tang dynasty of China towards the mid-point of the dynasty (from 755 to 763), with an attempt to replace it with the Yan dynasty. The rebellion was originally led by An Lushan, a general off ...

, where he ascended the throne with the aid of loyal bureaucrats and military supporters, only notifying his father Xuanzong after the fact. Lingzhou became part of the

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...

in 1038. It was besieged by Genghis Khan in November 1226. On May 20, 1996, Lingwu was upgraded from a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

to a

. On October 25, 2002, Lingwu was transferred from the

of Wuzhong to

Geography

The western border of Lingwu is formed by the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

Climate

Lingwu's climate is arid, with little precipitation and high levels of sunshine.

Administrative divisions

Lingwu administers one subdistrict, six towns, two

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

, and one other

township-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...

Subdistricts

The city's sole subdistrict is * . (, )

Towns

The city's six towns are * (, * (, ) * (, ) * (, ) * (, ) * Linhe. (, )

Townships

The city's two townships are * (, ) *. (, )

Other township-level divisions

The city also administers the township-level division of *. (, )

Demographics

Lingwu's population was reported as 261,677 in the

. In the

2000 Chinese census The 2000 Chinese census, officially the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), was conducted by the government of the People's Republic of China with 1 November 2000 as its zero hour. The total population was calcula ...

, the city's population was 249,890. The city has a

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

majority population.

Economy

The city has significant

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

, and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

reserves. Lingwu has a proven coal reserve of 27.3 billion tons. Lingwu also has a significant agricultural sector, with

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, corn, and

jujube Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

s all being grown in the city. The city is well known for its "Lingwu long jujube" (). This fruit has proven to be one of Ningxia's most popular agricultural products, producing an income of over 10 million yuan per year.

Notable sites

* Zhenhe Pagoda () * * Portions of the

Ming Great Wall The Ming Great Wall ( zh, c=明長城, p=Ming changcheng), built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), forms the most visible parts of the Great Wall of China today. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded ...

References

External links

Lingwu Government Website (2021)
(Chinese)
Lingwu Government Website (2007)
(Chinese)
Satellite map of Lingwu
{{authority control Cities in Ningxia County-level divisions of Ningxia Yinchuan