Lingwu 灵武市

History

The Lingzhou (灵州) of the Sui, Tang and Western Xia periods stood north-west of present-day Wuzhong, not here. After a Yellow River flood in 1384 swamped the old Lingzhou city, the town moved three times before settling on the present site in 1428, during the Ming dynasty, as the new Lingzhou city. Lingwu became a county-level city in May 1996 and has been administered by Yinchuan since December 2001. The city is also known for Lingwu kiln (灵武窑) ware, recovered from its kiln site.

What to see

Shuidonggou (水洞沟), in Linhe town (临河镇) 19 kilometres east of Yinchuan and bordering Ordos (鄂尔多斯) in Inner Mongolia to the north, was the first Palaeolithic site excavated in China. Six excavations have produced more than 30,000 stone artefacts and 67 animal fossils from people living here about 40,000 years ago. The same area holds Ming-dynasty Great Wall sections, beacon mounds, forts and trenches, and more than twenty yardang (雅丹) earth-pillar formations eroded by wind and sand. Among the defences are the Cangbing Caves (藏兵洞, 'soldier-hiding caves'), a maze of tunnels cut into a cliff more than 10 metres above the gully floor, with living rooms, grain stores, wells, kitchens and armouries. Shuidonggou is a national key cultural relic protection site and a national geopark.

The Lingwu Dinosaur Geopark (灵武恐龙地质公园) lies in Yongli village, Ningdong town (宁东镇), 35 kilometres north-east of the city. A local youth found the first fossil in November 2004 while digging for hedgehogs; the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology excavated it with Lingwu's relic office in 2005–2006, and CCTV broadcast the dig live on 26 August 2006, the first live national television broadcast of a dinosaur excavation in China. A site museum shows eight dinosaur skeletons in three excavation pits. It became a national geopark in 2009.

Food and local products

Lingwu is a centre of long jujube (长枣) growing. At the Ancient Jujube Stream Garden (古枣溪园) in Guoyuan village, Dongta town (东塔镇), 3 kilometres from the city, 11,996 old jujube trees aged 120 to 300 years stand on 300 mu of old orchard, a grove named among China's 100 most beautiful ancient tree groups. Dongta town also has the Qin Canal (秦渠), described by the town as a thousand years old, and the century-old Zhenhe Pagoda (镇河塔).

Highlights

• Shuidonggou 水洞沟: China's first excavated Palaeolithic site, with Ming Great Wall remains, yardang formations and cliff tunnels.
• Cangbing Caves 藏兵洞: Tunnel maze above the Shuidonggou gully with rooms, grain stores, wells and armouries.
• Lingwu Dinosaur Geopark 灵武恐龙地质公园: Fossil site found in 2004; eight skeletons shown in three excavation pits.
• Ancient Jujube Stream Garden 古枣溪园: Nearly 12,000 jujube trees aged 120 to 300 years in Dongta town.