Helan County 贺兰县

Setting and landscape

Chinese Wikipedia describes land that falls from the mountains in the west to an irrigated plain in the east, crossed by canals and dotted with lakes. Aobaogeda (敖包圪垯, 3,556 metres), the main peak of the Helan range in the county's northwest, is the highest point in Ningxia. The Yellow River runs for 21.25 kilometres through the county and its water is used for irrigation. The county government quotes a line by the Tang poet Wei Zhan (韦蟾) on the orchards below the Helan Mountains, long known as a 'south of the Yangtze beyond the frontier'.

History

Under the Qin the area belonged to Beidi Commandery (北地郡), and the Western Han set up Lian County (廉县) here. In the Qing it was the leading county of Ningxia Prefecture in Gansu. The county, then called Ningxia County, took the name Helan in 1941 and has been part of Yinchuan since 1975.

What to see

The Helan Mountain rock art (贺兰山岩画) is in the Helankou gorge, 56 kilometres from Yinchuan. It is a national 4A tourist site and a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. According to the county government, close to 6,000 carvings on the gorge walls show herding, hunting, ritual, fighting and dancing from 3,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Han Meilin Art Museum, opened in 2015, holds over 1,000 works by Han Meilin (韩美林) inspired by the carvings.

The Baisikou Twin Pagodas (拜寺口双塔) stand 100 metres apart on a terrace on the mountain slope. They date from the Western Xia and were repaired many times under the Yuan and Ming; the eastern tower is a 13-tier octagonal brick pagoda 39 metres high. Both were listed nationally in 1988. The Hongfo Pagoda (宏佛塔), also called Wangcheng Pagoda (王澄塔), is a late Western Xia pagoda 28.29 metres high whose octagonal lower storeys carry a large Tibetan-style finial, a form seen as blending Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism. It was restored in 1990–1992 and listed nationally in 2013.

Food and local products

The county lies in the Eastern Helan Mountain Foothills wine-grape region and counts 17 wineries; the Turandot Wine Town (图兰朵葡萄酒小镇) is one of its wine complexes. Fish farms use saline-alkali water, sea bass is raised inland, and fish are farmed together with rice.

Getting oriented

The county town is 10 kilometres from the centre of Yinchuan, whose Xingqing District (兴庆区) borders the county on the south; Pingluo County (平罗县) lies to the north. National highway G109 passes through.

Highlights

• Helan Mountain rock art 贺兰山岩画: Close to 6,000 carvings in the Helankou gorge; a national-level protected site.
• Baisikou Twin Pagodas 拜寺口双塔: Two Western Xia pagodas 100 m apart on the Helan slope, listed nationally in 1988.
• Hongfo Pagoda 宏佛塔: Late Western Xia pagoda with a Tibetan-style finial, listed nationally in 2013.
• Turandot Wine Town 图兰朵葡萄酒小镇: Wine complex in the county's share of the Eastern Helan Mountain Foothills grape region.