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Reaching across in a giant arc from the fringes of eastern Siberia to the borders of Turkic Central Asia, the provinces of Inner Mongolia , Ningxia , Gansu , Qinghai and Xinjiang account for an entire third of China's land area. Compressing so vast a region into a few pages may seem something of a travesty - but at least it is based on a perception that originates from China itself, that these territories lie largely beyond the Great Wall. To ancient Chinese thinking the whole region is remote, subject to extremes of weather and populated by non-Chinese-speaking "barbarians" who are, quite literally, the peoples from beyond the pale - zai wai ren. It is here, thinly scattered through the vast areas of steppe and grassland, desert and mountain plateau, that the bulk of China's ethnic minorities still live. Out of deference to these, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Xinjiang are officially not provinces at all, but so-called Autonomous Regions , for the Mongol, Hui and Uigur peoples respectively. However, a Chinese presence in the area is not new. Imperial armies were already in control of virtually the whole northwest region by the time of the Han dynasty two thousand years ago and since then Gansu, Ningxia and the eastern part of Qinghai have become Chinese almost to the core. The uncultivatable plains of Inner Mongolia have been intimately bound up with China since Genghis Khan created his great empire in the early thirteenth century, and even Xinjiang - although it has repeatedly broken free - has always found itself drawn back into the Chinese sphere. Today the relatively unrestricted use of local languages and local religions in all these areas can be taken as a sign of China's desire to nurture patriotism in the minority peoples, and regain some of the sympathy lost during disastrous repressions both under communism and in previous eras. Furthermore, in economic terms, there is a clear transfer of wealth, in the form of industrial and agricultural aid, from the richer areas of eastern China to the poorer, outer fringes of the country. On the other hand, the degree of actual autonomy in the "autonomous" regions is strictly controlled, and relations between Han China and these more remote corners of the empire remain fractious in places. Dissent on the part of the Uigurs of Xinjiang, for example, has shown itself as recently as the large-scale city riots in Kashgar in the 1990s. Tourism in these areas has boomed in the last few years. Travellers, above all, are drawn by the Silk Road , a series of historic towns strung out across the desert, running from Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, through Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang, and eventually on into Central Asia. The Northwest also offers possibilities for enjoying the last great remaining wildernesses of China - the grasslands, mountains, lakes and deserts of the interior - far from the teeming population centres of the east. For this, there is perhaps no place better to start than Inner Mongolia 's famous grasslands on which Genghis Khan trained his cavalry and where nomads on horseback still live today. As well as visiting the supposed tomb of Genghis Khan , outside Dongsheng, it's also possible, in places, to catch a glimpse of the Mongols' ancient and unique way of life, packaged for tourists to a greater or lesser degree depending on how far off the beaten track you are willing to travel. You can sleep in a nomad's circular felt tent (a yurt), sample Mongol food and ride a horse across the grasslands, all within half a day's train journey from Beijing. The other great natural feature of Inner Mongolia is the Yellow River, which detours north into the region from tiny, rural Ningxia . Here, at the resort of Shapotou , you can witness the spectacle of a mighty river running between desert sand dunes. Rarely visited by foreign tourists, Ningxia also offers quiet, attractive cities and a variety of scenery ranging from terraced, abundantly fertile hillsides in the south to pure desert in the north. Extending west from here is Gansu , the historic periphery of ancient China. This rugged terrain of high mountains and deserts is spliced from east to west by the Hexi Corridor , a narrow path through the mountains, historically the only road from China to the West, and still marked along its length by the Great Wall - terminating magnificently at the fortress of Jiayuguan - and a string of Silk Road towns culminating in Dunhuang , with its fabulous Buddhist cave art. South of the Hexi Corridor rise the mountains which extend all the way to the plains of northern India. The ancient borderland between the mountains and China proper is Qinghai , perhaps the least-explored province in the whole of the Northwest, which offers mountains, monasteries, the colossal lake of Qinghai Hu and, above all, the road to Tibet , along one of the highest mountain routes in the world. Originating in this province, too, are the Yellow and Yangzi rivers, the main transport arteries of China throughout recorded history. Finally, guarding the westernmost passes of the empire, is Xinjiang , where China ends and another world - once known in the West as Chinese Turkestan - begins. Culturally and geographically this vast, isolated region of searing deserts and snowy mountains, the most arduous and dreaded section of the Silk Road, is a part of Central Asia. Turkic Uigurs outnumber the Han Chinese, mosques replace temples, and lamb kebabs replace steamed dumplings. Highlights of Xinjiang include the desert resort town of Turpan and, in the far west, fabled Kashgar , a city that until recently few Westerners had ever reached. Travel in the Northwest can still be hard going, with enormous distances and an extremely harsh continental climate to contend with. Winter is particularly severe, with average temperatures as low as minus 15° or 20°C in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. Conversely, in summer , Turpan in eastern Xinjiang is China's hottest city. Despite the wild, rugged terrain and the great distances, however, facilities for tourists have developed considerably in recent years. In nearly all towns, there are now hotels and restaurants catering for a range of budgets - in general, the price of accommodation is a good deal cheaper here than in eastern China. Where rail lines have not been built, nearly everywhere is accessible by bus, and quite a few towns by plane as well. Finally there is now the possibility of onward travel to or from China's Asian neighbours - the Republic of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kirgyzistan and Pakistan can all be reached by road or rail from the provinces covered in this chapter (though remember that visas are generally required for all of these countries and you may need to acquire these in Beijing or elsewhere before setting out).
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