Before coming to Ningxia in north-central China, all I knew about the place was that it is synonymous with desert dust storms, sour milk, and poverty, and is a fifth-tier autonomous region ...

As one Han interviewee in the Ningxia capital of Yinchuan told me ... the mosque found itself caught up in the campaign to "Sinicise" religion - that is, make it more Chinese - at the direction ...

what it might look like and where this latest round of religious repression could ultimately lead. We focused our investigation on four locations across the central provinces of Gansu and Ningxia ...

and Islam has been prominent in Ningxia for centuries. But human rights groups say there is increasing official hostility towards Muslims in China, and foreign religious influences in particular.

These influences were both secular and sacred, as nomads, merchants, emissaries, and missionaries flooded into China, bringing new customs, purveying exotic wares, and propagating new religious ...

Their diverse livelihoods, religious practices and cultural customs ... which was unearthed from a Xixia imperial tomb, is displayed at Ningxia Museum in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia ...