Rural Ningxia On-Line - By Murray Clive

I left Beijing and I’ve traveled north west and I’ve found myself in this beautiful blue sky city, its called Yinchuan, it’s the capital of Ningxia. And the reason i'm here is to suss out rural china. Basically to figure out whats been going on with the farmers. And I’ve found one, this place is called Pingluoxian. And this webpage that I’ve found is actually advertising products that they have on their farm. So these guys have access to internet which is good news.

Murray in Ningxia

Ningxia is a small automonous province in north western China, nestled between Shaanxia and Gansu and hanging below Inner Mongolia. The Yellow river cuts through the province providing much needed irrigation to an otherwise dry, dusty land.

Ningxia is an important agricultural player in China. There are about 4 million farmers and over 19 million acres of cultivated land where rice, wheat, corn and all kinds of fruits, especially wolfberries are grown. As I wandered through the farmlands I could tell that the environment was perfect for farming not just because it was so lush but because the air was so clean and soft. There is almost no pollution and at night you can actually see a few stars. Coming from Beijing, this is quite something!

We are off to see our first family now, in order to establish how the last 30 yrs has changed their lives. But its not all gonna be pomp and ceremony because today they are celebrating a birthday. One of their little einy scheinies is turning one. Which reminds me I should probably pick something up, the real question is: what do you buy a one year old kid in China?

We’ve arrived in this little village, as you can see everybody here is in a good mood. I think they’re celebrating the beautiful day. Four beautiful dancers and some traditional instruments over here. I’m not sure what they’re singing about, but it’s an interesting sound.

So I’ve just been doing some shopping and I have here some candy which I’m sure will go down well and in my bag I have a red envelope filled with lots of lovely money.