Claim: The Hui people also have a community in the desert.

Ningxia -LRB- ; pronounced -LSB- - cmnning2xia4 -RSB- -RRB- , officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region -LRB- NHAR -RRB- , is an autonomous region of the People 's Republic of China located in the northwest part of the country . Formerly a province , Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was separated from Gansu in 1958 and was reconstituted as an autonomous region for the Hui people , one of the 56 officially recognised nationalities of China . Twenty percent of China 's Hui population lives in Ningxia .   Ningxia is bounded by Shaanxi to the east , Gansu to the south and west , and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north and has an area of around 66400 km2 . This sparsely settled , mostly desert region lies partially on the Loess Plateau and in the vast plain of the Yellow River , and features the Great Wall of China along its northeastern boundary . Over the years an extensive system of canals has been built . Extensive land reclamation and irrigation projects have made increased cultivation possible .