Qingtongxia

Qingtongxia is a county-level city under Wuzhong in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, built where the Yellow River cuts through low mountains just south of the Yinchuan Plain. Its economy centers on hydropower and heavy industry, anchored by the landmark Qingtongxia Dam, completed in 1967 as one of China's first large gravity dams, and by a major aluminum smelting and chemical complex that draws on the region's abundant cheap electricity. The surrounding irrigation district, fed by canals first dug in the Han and Tang dynasties, makes Qingtongxia one of the most productive rice and wheat farming areas in Ningxia. The city has no university of its own, with students typically continuing on to Ningxia University in Yinchuan, but it draws visitors nationwide for the 108 Dagobas, a triangular field of Yuan-dynasty Buddhist stupas on the riverbank, and for the dramatic Qingtongxia Yellow River Grand Canyon.