Chinese Ningsia Rugs

Ningsia

Rugs of the Hui People of China

Ningxia a province in China properly called Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region today. Yinchuan is the capital. It is a source of a particular type of rug.

Ningxia is one of the three main home provinces of the Hui people, The Hui people speak a dialect of Mandarin Chinese and are Muslim. of Persian and Central Asian decent. In Muslim Chinese: ethnic nationalism in the People’s Republic By Dru C. Gladney he notes that the Hui speak more Persian among their own people and Chinese when dealing with outsiders.

Various dynasties in particular the Manchu welcomed Persians and other Muslims into China, we are still sorting out the oldest Hui rugs but they predate the commercial era and may well be a tradition brought from Persia hundreds of years ago.

Ningxia is one of the Rouge Provinces that are know collectively as the People Republic of Chine or popularly Red China. Rug literature and even Auction Houses refer to Ningxia as Western China. It is actually in North Central China. Its northeastern border is the Great Wall so there was a time two thousand years ago when it was western China.