One of the five autonomous regions of China, Ningxia-Hui is located in the north of the country, south of Inner Mongolia. The status of autonomy was received in 1958. The NHAR did not have the experience of independent statehood and became a part of China right after the collapse of the Mongolian empire. At the same time, even before the territory of the modern NHAR entered the Chinese state, the Turkic Khaganate, which determined the ethnic specifics of the region, had a significant influence here.
The titular group of the Ningxia-Hui district is the Hui-Han people, who profess Islam of the Sunni type. Accordingly, religion which determines the fact that most of the Hui have special customs and value orientations in comparison with the main population of the country, is a decisive feature of ethnic identity in the region. The share of the Hui in the population of the NHAR is relatively small - only about 34%, while the bulk (about 65%) is Han. A significant part of the Hui resides outside of its autonomous region, in particular, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Republic, Gansu, Qinghai, and Guizhou.
With a relatively small territory and population, the NHAR occupies one of the last places regarding GRP per capita among all regions of the country, being an agricultural region with an underdeveloped industry.
Hui views their Islamic identity mainly in a cultural rather than a political sense, and the central authorities of the PRC are quite loyal to their specifics. At the same time, outside the NHAR, inter-communal conflicts between the Hui and the Han, as well as the Hui and the Tibetans, often break out. They are forcibly suppressed by the Chinese government.
