Amity's 20th Anniversary

Ningxia Exposure Tour


(Download the following information in PDF format at the bottom of this page. Sign up for this tour here.)

Draft Schedule


November 1 (Tue)

Arrival in Yinchuan

Hongqiao Hotel (Hongqiao Fandian)
#38 Jiefang Road West
Yinchuan 750001
Ningxia
PR China
Tel: 86-951-691 8888
Fax: 86-951-691 8788 or 602 2805

Nov 2 (Wed)

Visit medical and health projects in Wuzhong City

Nov 3 (Thu)

AM: Visit medical and health projects in Longde County

PM: Depart for Yanchi

Nov 4 (Fri)

AM: Visit Desert Control Project in Yanchi

PM: Depart for Lingwu

Nov 5 (Sat)

AM: In Lingwu

PM: Depart for Yinchuan

Nov 6 (Sun)

Depart for Nanjing

Introduction to Ningxia Province


The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in the eastern part of northwestern China, covers an area of 66,400 square kilometers, with an elevation ranging from 1,100 to 2,200 meters. It borders Shaanxi Province to the east, Gansu Province to the southwest, and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region to the northwest. With a total population of 5.3 million, Ningxia has three cities, 16 counties, two county-level cities, and six prefectures. Yinchuan is the capital.

Ningxia is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. It has been proven that human activities existed here 30,000 years ago, leaving behind a rich heritage combining the cultures of the Western Xia State, migrants, boundary areas, and Islam. Ningxia has many historic sites, such as the mystic royal mausoleums of the Western Xia State - often called the Pyramids of China - and the cliff carvings on Mt. Helan. Bird Island, magnificent Mt. Helan, boundless deserts, and the splendid Huanghe (Yellow) River make Ningxia a final destination for many holidaymakers.

Ningxia's population includes more than 20 ethnic minorities, one third of whom are Hui. The Huis in Ningxia account for one sixth of all the Huis in China. Thus, Ningxia is also known as the Home of the Hui People.

Introduction to Amity Projects in Ningxia


Nestled in eastern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Yanchi is 180 km away from the capital, Yinchuan City, and borders on to Shaanxi to the east, Gansu to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the north. It is one of the most impoverished counties of the Region and one of the most severely desertified in China.

Within its 713,000 hectares, accounting for 10.74% of the total area of Ningxia, there are 131,000 hectares (ha.) of arable land (including 2,500 ha. irrigated land), and 557,000 ha. of grassland (including 460,000 ha. of usable grassland). Under Yanchi's jurisdiction in the administrative structure, there are 16 townships, 99 administrative villages, 679 natural villages, 12 neighborhood committees and 47 neighborhood groups. The county's total population is 154,000, of which 129,000 are rural based, and 3,292 belong to the Muslim Hui minority, accounting for 2.8% of the total population.

Yanchi is located in a transitional belt between the Erdos Tableland and the Loess Plateau. It has a typically continental arid climate, with an average elevation of 1,600 meters above sea level. The contrast between the local annual precipitation and evaporation is strong: 272 mm (the average from the last 20 years) and 2710 mm respectively.

The project target areas are located in the more desertified northern and central parts of Yanchi, sloping gently from south to north, with an average elevation of 1,400 to 1,600 m above sea level. Two vast desert belts are located within the area - Maowusu to the north and Habahu in the centre, 16% of which is vegetated. The local climate in these areas is dry and windy, with an average precipitation of 280 mm annually.

Components and activities of Amity's rural development project in Yanchi:

  • Environment management
  • Arbor tree plantation (1,000 mu)
  • Bush plantation (30,000 mu)
  • Forage crops plantation (6,000 mu)
  • Pasture improvement (70,000 mu)
  • Community service facilities construction
  • Shallow well construction (50 units)
  • Levelling of land (1,000 mu)
  • Water cellar construction (200)
  • Impervious work for irrigation (300 mu)
  • Deep well renovation
  • Greenhouses for animal raising (200)
  • Machinery for food and forage production
  • Goat breeding improvements
  • Biogas systems
  • Education facilities
  • Capacity building
  • Micro-credit loans
  • Establishing farmers technical associations
  • Literacy training
  • Technical training

(NB: 1 mu = 0.0667 hectares approx.)

Ningxia CBR Project

1. CBR project

In 2003, Amity started a CBR program in Lingwu, a county-level city in the suburbs of Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia. Out of the total population of 263,000 people in Lingwu, 125,000 are Muslims, making up 48.91% of the total population.

10 field workers were hired and trained in Lingwu to provide CBR services to visually impaired and mentally handicapped clients. During the first year of the project, 36 differently-abled people have already received CBR services, including 18 blind persons and an equal number of those with mental disorders. 8 clients have been granted income-generation loans to start their own businesses or careers.

For the Lingwu CBR program, it is worth noting that field workers were, for the most part, provided with training by experienced CBR field workers brought in from Luzhou in Sichuan Province. This means that those who were once trained themselves are now able to provide training to others with satisfactory results, a model which will promote the long-term sustainability of CBR programs.

2. Guyuan Blindness Prevention Program

Guyuan Prefecture is situated in the southern corner of Ningxia Hui Autonomous region. This 3,915 square kilometer area of land has a total population of 518,700, 42% of which are Muslims.

Before 2000, cataract operations were not available to the people of Guyuan as there were simply no cataract surgeons to be found in the prefecture. Since the beginning of 2000, through the sponsorship of the Nethersole Fund in Hong Kong, Amity has provided training for county doctors from Guyuan prefecture at two major hospitals in Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia,. Following on from this, equipment and further technical know-how has been provided to the doctors trained. Since 2001, over 200 cataract operations have been performed each year in the prefecture. Guyuan hospital has put in place a three-tier billing system for patients according to their particular financial circumstances, and this ranges from totally free to RMB 300 per patient to a maximum of RMB 500 per patient. With this flexible financial arrangement, and with a focus on helping out poorer patients in need, the hospital has been able to attract patients from far and wide across the prefecture for its cataract services.