My tenth journey in Ningxia will have been the longest and the one I will have completed with the most meticulous observation, as this time it was a matter of collec- ting stories and accounts to share with you, the readers.
After introducing the wonderful people of China's largest region, Xinjiang, last year, I focused on the smallest one of the country's continent. How rich are the human resources and how great and moving were the stories the Ningxia people had to tell me! From the army vete

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With its 66,400 sq km, Ningxia makes up only 0.69 percent of China's territory. Composed of plain that is crossed by the Huanghe River and cradled by three deserts in the north and arid mountains in the south, Ningxia is one of the poo- rest places in the country.
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established in 1958. Its culture and history are strongly influenced by Islam which is practiced by the Hui people, the descendants of Central Asian, Persian, and Arabic peoples, making this auto- nomous region a land rich in color and variety.
Among the persons introduced in this ook, at least seven - as far as I know -would later become bearers of the Olympic Torch in Ningxia. They include the writer Zhang Xianliang, the desert-greening wor- kers Wang Youde and Bai Chunlan, the actress Liu Ping, the Ningxiahong winery president Zhang Jinshan, the president of a residential community committee Sun Xianmei, and the theater master and pioneer Wan q Zhihonq.