Why is Ningxia Zhongwei called Zhongwei?

Because it was established during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1403) that Ningxia Zhongwei was appointed.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty (1724), it was renamed Zhongwei County (including parts of today's Shapotou District, Zhongning and Qingtongxia), which belonged to Ningxia Prefecture, and Haiyuan County belonged to Pingliang Prefecture.

In 1933, Zhongwei County was divided into Zhongwei and Zhongning counties.

In 1954, Ningxia was merged into Gansu Province, and Zhongwei belonged to Yinchuan Prefecture.

After the establishment of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in 1958, Zhongwei and Zhongning were successively placed under the jurisdiction of Yinnan and Wuzhong cities. Haiyuan County was successively placed under the jurisdiction of Guyuan Prefecture and Guyuan City.

In 2004, the prefecture-level Zhongwei City was established, and Zhongning and Haiyuan counties were placed under the jurisdiction of Zhongwei City.

Zhongwei City is located at the junction of Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Gansu in the central and western part of Ningxia, and borders Wuzhong City in Ningxia to the east. It is connected to Guyuan City of Ningxia and Jingyuan County of Gansu Province to the south, Jingtai County of Gansu Province to the west, and Alxa Left Banner of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north. It spans 104 degrees 17 minutes east longitude to 106 degrees 10 minutes east latitude and 36 degrees 06 minutes north latitude. 37 degrees 50 minutes, about 130 kilometers long from east to west and 180 kilometers wide from north to south. As of 2010, the city's total area was 17,441.6 square kilometers, including 6,876.1 square kilometers in Shapotou District, 4,191.6 square kilometers in Zhongning, and 6,373.9 square kilometers in Haiyuan.