Mausoleum No. 3
The best-known of the cone-shaped mounds.
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The burial ground of the rulers of Western Xia, the state founded by the Tangut people that ruled north-west China from 1038 until the Mongols under Genghis Khan ended it in 1227; it holds nine imperial mausoleums and about 250 tombs of royal relatives and high officials on the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains west of Yinchuan, and UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 2025. The tombs spread over some 50 square kilometres, and their hallmark is the cone-shaped mounds of rammed earth, some 23 metres high, which look like pyramids against the bare mountains and earned the nickname «the Oriental pyramids»; the holes in their sides once held wooden beams, and the many tiles found around them show they were once roofed. Mausoleum No. 3 is attributed to the state's first emperor, Li Yuanhao, and is the only one to have been properly excavated and studied. A museum at the entrance displays more than two thousand Western Xia objects, and paths then lead out among the mausoleums. Tickets cost CNY 68 and the site is open from 8 am to 5 pm, per the Ningxia culture and tourism department. Shade is scarce and the sun is strong, so bring water and a hat.
The best-known of the cone-shaped mounds.
Behind the mausoleums.
Western Xia finds.
Eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains, Xixia District, west of Yinchuan
Two to four hours is enough for the museum and the paths among the mausoleums, and the site is less than an hour's drive west of central Yinchuan.
Yes, Ningxia is the autonomous region of the Muslim Hui people and halal restaurants are everywhere, famed for local lamb and hand-pulled noodles, while other Chinese restaurants may serve pork, so look for the halal sign.