Hongsibu District

Hongsibu is located 127 kilometres (79 mi) south of the regional capital Yinchuan.[4] It covers an area of 3,523.09 square kilometres (1,360.27 sq mi)[1] in a basin bounded by Mount Niushou (牛首山, 1,774 m (5,820 ft)) in the north, Mount Yantong (烟筒山, 1,715 m (5,627 ft)) in the west and Mount Luo (罗山, 2,624 m (8,609 ft)) in the east;[5] the last has been designated a National Nature Reserve.[6] The terrain is higher in the south than the north and the elevation generally ranges between 1240 and 1450 m above sea level.[4]

Hongsibu first appears as a place name during the Ming dynasty.[4]

Beginning in 1998, the area now comprising the district was chosen as a resettlement location for over 200,000 people from drought-stricken areas of southern Ningxia.[7][8] In the most ambitious scheme of its kind in China,[9] water was diverted from the Yellow River to create and irrigate 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) of new agricultural land.[4] The administrative district was established in 2009.[10]

Hongsibu District is divided into the subdistrict of Xinmin (新民街道); the towns of Hongsibu (红寺堡镇) and Taiyangshan (太阳山镇); and the townships of Xinzhuangji (新庄集乡), Dahe (大河乡) and Liuquan (柳泉乡),[11] the last of which was created in 2014 from the western part of Xinzhuangji.[12] The District Party Committee Secretary is Ding Jiancheng (丁建成) and the District Governor is Wang Zhongqiang (王忠强).[13]

At the end of 2020 the population of Hongsibu District was 197,604, of which 40.1% lived in urban areas.[2] The district recorded a population of 165,016 in the 2010 national census[14] It was 51,875 in the 2000 census.[12] 61% of the population is Hui.[8]

Hongsibu District's gross domestic product was estimated at CN¥1.56 billion in 2015.[15]

The Dingbian–Wuwei, Fuzhou–Yinchuan, and Gunquan-Hongsibu (formerly S19, now signed as G6) expressways run through the northern part of the district, as does the Taiyuan–Zhongwei–Yinchuan Railway.[4] The Hongsibu Solar Park is located in the district.