Xihaigu is a region forming the southern tip of

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It consists of the seven county-level divisions Yuanzhou, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan and Tongxin. The former five counties being part of

Guyuan city Guyuan ( zh, c=固原, p=Gùyuán ), formerly known as Xihaigu ( zh, links= , c=西海固, p=xīhǎigù, Xiao'erjing: قُ‌يُوًا شِ) or Dayuan (), is a prefecture-level city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republi ...

. It forms one of the poorest areas in China. The name derives from the names of Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan. In 2014 around half of the population belonged to the Hui minority, compared to overall 35.7% in all of Ningxia province.

Ecology

In the 1970s, Xihaigu was named one of the "most unfit place for human settlement" by the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

due to its fragile ecology and vulnerability for droughts. Due to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, destruction of forests during the Tang and

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

and later

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of arable farming, crop plants and of Animal husbandry, animals, with higher levels ...

and rapid population growth resulting in

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migr ...

, the area was transformed from fertile grounds to arid land. Forests that would retain water for dry periods had disappeared. In the past decades the average temperature had risen while precipitation decreased. Local reservoirs and wells suffered salinisation. Meanwhile the region's population had quadrupled between 1947 and 1997. Together this resulted in the amount of arable land per head to decrease accordingly.

Resettlement

The Chinese government funds

water conservation Water conservation aims to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, protect the hydrosphere, and meet current and future human demand. Water conservation makes it possible to avoid water scarcity. It covers all the policies, strateg ...

technology and

ecological restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

. Since 1983, there have been several rounds of forced relocation of settlements away from ecologically sensitive areas. At the time, 95% of the region's population were peasants. Initially, residents were relocated to nearby places within the region with better conditions for farming. Due to lack of suitable land, residents were later relocated on a voluntary basis to places further north close the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

and to the cities of

Yinchuan Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...

and

Shizuishan Shizuishan, formerly Shizuizi, is a prefecture-level city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is the northernmost prefecture in Ningxia and the second most populous, after the regional capital Yinchuan, bor ...

which had better existing infrastructure. New villages were erected for the relocated residents. To speed up the relocation process, in the past decades, entire villages have been relocated with the old homes being razed to prevent them from returning. Although successful in reversing the ecological degradation of the region and improving the economic conditions of relocated residents, some residents were unable to adapt but were prevented to return. The resettlement of often ethnically homogeneous Hui villages has led to ethnic disputes, such as with Han people around the consumption of pork and between followers of different

Menhuan ''Menhuan'' ( zh, s=门宦, t=門宦, p=Ménhuàn) is a term used by the Hui and Uyghur Muslim populations of China to indicate a Chinese Ṣūfī '' ṭarīḳa'' ("order" or "saintly lineage"). The leaders of a ''menhuan'', which usually a ...

who had lived in their distinct villages before relocation. However, overall, research has found relocated residents to be happier with their life after resettlement.

References

{{Reflist Regions of China Geography of Ningxia

Ecology

Resettlement

See also

References