Gran cañón del río Amarillo en Qingtongxia

The Qingtongxia Yellow River Grand Canyon, located about 20 kilometers from the city of Wuzhong on the southern fringe of the Yinchuan plain, is the final gorge that the Yellow River carves before leaving the Ningxia reach and entering the Ordos loop. A 5A-rated national scenic area and a core zone of a recognized World Heritage Irrigation Structure, the park sits at the meeting point of two of Ningxia's signature landscapes — the Helan Mountain range and the Yellow River — and is one of the most visually complete introductions to "Yellow River culture" available to foreign visitors.

The canyon itself is described as the "Ten-Li Long Gorge" and is framed by the Helan ridges to the west and the Niushou peaks to the east. Within this short, dramatic reach, the Yellow River alternates between calm reservoirs backed up by the great Qingtongxia Dam and faster rapids in the narrower sections, producing the "symphony of water" that local writers have long celebrated. The scenery can be appreciated from both bank-side trails and boat trips that run through the heart of the gorge.

The park's cultural weight matches its landscape. Its most photographed feature is the One Hundred and Eight Pagodas, a mysterious array of stupas arranged on a mountain slope in twelve rows — a rare geometric layout whose origins remain debated among scholars. Other key stops include the Great Yu Cultural Park, dedicated to the legendary flood controller Yu the Great; the dam itself, a mid-twentieth-century engineering landmark; and several historic irrigation intakes that are part of the ancient Qingtongxia irrigation system, recognized as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure.

The site offers several themed ways to explore, including gorge sightseeing cruises, sheepskin-raft drifting on a traditional Yellow River craft, walking trails, and study tours focused on the centuries-old irrigation networks that turned the Ningxia plain into a fertile "land of fish and rice" in the arid northwest. For travelers from Yinchuan, Qingtongxia makes an excellent day trip that combines geology, engineering heritage, and the visual drama of the Yellow River meeting the desert — a combination that has shaped life in this corner of China for more than two thousand years.