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Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (simplified Chinese: 临夏回族自治州; pinyin: Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu) is in Western China's Gansu Province, south of the capital, Lanzhou. It is an autonomous prefecture for the Muslim Hui people a large Chinese ethnic group.
Geography and climate
Linxia is located in southwestern central Gansu. It is just south of Lanzhou and borders Qinghai province to the west. The terrain is highlands, mountains, and loess hills. The Yellow River, which gets its muddy yellow color from the loess runs through the northwestern part of the prefecture. Elevation averages 2000 meters above sea-level. The average temperature is 8°C and there are only 155 frost-free days a year. The area is semi-arid with annual percipitation of only 442 mm. Total area is 8,169 km².
History and Culture
Linxia is famous for a certain style of round glasses worn during the Qing Dynasty that are still made there today.
Administration
The prefecture is subdivided into 8 county-level divisions: 1 county-level city, 5 counties and 2 autonomous counties:
- county level city:
- Linxia City
- counties:
- Linxia County
- Kangle County
- Yongjing County
- Guanghe County
- Hezhang County
- autonomous counties
Demographics
2002 population was 1,907,900 people. Average population density is 233 per km². Ethnic minority groups include Hui, Tibetan, Salar, Bao'an, and others. Altogether there are 16 ethnic groups with a population of 1,700,000; 56% of the total population of Linxia.
Economy
Linxia's 2002 GDP was 3.3 billion RMB, which was 10.7% growth over the previous year. The per capita GDP was 1,778RMB, which was 9.9% growth over the previous year. Agriculture, manufacturing, building materials, finance, hydropwere, and tourism are all important industries. Linxia, specifically Linxia City, is the center of trade, transport, and industry for the area directly south of Lanzhou.
Tourism
Linxia is blessed with both natural and cultural wonders. The Yellow River runs through the north of the prefecture where at Yongjing's Liujiaxia Dam it forms a large reservoir. Yongjing is also the starting point to trips to the Bingling Temple's ancient Buddhist cave grottoes. Fossils are plentiful in the dry rugged Badland-esque terrain making Yongjing the future home to a proposed dinosaur themed park. There are numerous mosques and temple throughout the rest of Linxia. Beautiful mountain scenery can be found at Taizi Mountain nature reserve. In 2002 these sites and others drew 400,000 tourists, up 20%, who added a total 110,000,000 RMB, up 50%, to the local economy.
Linxia is also a stop on trips from Lanzhou to towns in the Tibetan parts of southern Gansu including the famed Labrang Monastery in Xiahe.