Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and former capital of the Western Xia Empire of the Tanguts. It has an area of 4,467 km2 (1,725 sq mi) and a total population of 1.99 million. Its built up area is home to 1,290,170 inhabitants spread on three urban districts. The name of the city literally means "silver river"; the character for "river" is the same as that in Sichuan, but not as those in, for example, the Yellow River or Yangtze River.
Thanks to the Yellow River, Yinchuan enjoys beautiful natural scenery and favorable conditions for agriculture and has long earned the fame of a "River Side City in the Northwest" and "Home to Fishes and Rice". Yinchuan is now the permanent site for China-Arab Expo which is an international platform for cultural and economic exchanges between China and Arab countries.