The Chinese Moslems, who constitute the largest minority, number about 700,000. They are organized in two autonomous chou and three autonomous hsien. The Wuchung Moslem Autonomous Chou, situated east of the Yellow River in former Ningsia Province, was called the Hotung (“east of the river”) chou until April, 1955, when it was renamed for its capital. The Wuchung chou has a population of 230,000, 62 per cent of whom are Moslems. The Wuchung chou includes the east-bank section of the Ningsia irrigated plain, adjoins the Ordos desert and passes southeastward into the loesslands. The autonomous chou was set up in April, 1954.
The river, which is some 3,028 miles long and has a catchment basin of 250,000 sq. miles, rises in the Bayan Kara Shan (15,000 ft) of north-east Tibet and flows as a mountain torrent above Lanchow. Between Lanchow and Wuchung in Ningsia it descends on to the Inner Mongolian plateau and is less torrential although still of considerable strength. At Wuchung it starts on its northward course, known as the Great Bend, across the Ordos Desert.
Savings deposits of some of the commune peasants in Wuchung and Lingwu counties, where people of the Hui nationality live in compact communities, increased by more than 30 percent and 100 percent respectively last year.
1978 November [1978 October 16], “Religious Life Never Interfered With”, in Eastern Horizon[4], volume XVII, number 11, Hong Kong: Eastern Horizon Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16:
In Hui restaurants in towns such as Wuchung and Chungning, restaurant workers wearing the white caps of the Hui nationality serve customers. Most government institutions, factories and schools in different parts of the autonomous region have set up dining rooms for the Huis, where their special foods are served.
