What are the specialties of Yinchuan?

A specialty product is a product that has cultural connotations or history and is produced in a certain place. Yinchuan is known as "the land of fish and rice" and "the pearl of the river". You can imagine that Yinchuan's specialties must be countless. In this issue of Yinchuan Culture, we will take you to learn about some of the more famous specialties!

Helan Inkstone

Helan Inkstone is produced in Ningxia Sapphire. Helan stone has a uniform structure, fine texture, and suitable hardness and softness. It is a very rare stone. Helan inkstones carved with it have the advantages of producing ink, storing ink, protecting hair, and being durable. The minerals that make up Helan Stone are very fine, only a few tenths of the size of a human hair, and they are extremely densely packed with each other. On such a delicate substrate, many relatively hard quartz powder and iron mineral particles are evenly scattered, which are like "tungsten carbide" embedded in the Helan stone.

Helan inkstones produce ink quickly, do not stagnate, and are durable. The covered Helan inkstones are like sealers and are known as "the ink can be stored for more than three days." This advantage is deeply loved by calligraphers and painters.

There are different opinions on when Helan Stone came onto the stage of stone carving. The earliest legend is related to "Mengtian's brush making". Meng Tian was a general of Qin Shihuang. He once led hundreds of thousands of troops to garrison on both sides of the Yellow River in Ningxia and other places. Meng Tian "used eucalyptus as the tube, deerskin as the pillar, and sheepskin as the quilt" to create what later generations called "Qin Brush" and "Canghao". Since there was a pen in Mengtian's era, it seems that the matching inkstone should also appear, so Helan Stone was contacted. However, there is no historical record of this legend.

The earliest records of Helan stones and their inkstones may be found in the "Ningxia Prefecture Chronicles". There is this description in its "Geography, Mountains and Rivers" section: "Beijia Mountain is at the entrance of Xiaogunzhong in Helan Mountain. It has three peaks standing like a pen holder. The purple stone below can be used as an inkstone, and it is commonly known as Helan Duan."

Chang Zao

Lingwu Chang Zao, also known as "Ma Ya Zao", is an excellent local variety with strong tree vigor, upright tree posture, strong branching ability, and easy germination of jujube heads. The fruit is medium to large, oblong in shape. The average fruit weight is 18.1g, the maximum fruit weight is 26.8g, and the fruit stem is long. The stem depression is deep and wide, and the fruit shoulder is flat. The peel is purple-red, and the fruit spots are reddish-brown and not very obvious. The fruit has thin skin, green and white flesh, dense and crisp texture, rich juice, sweet and sour taste, and extremely high quality. The sugar content of fresh dates is 30%, the acid content is 0.25%, the edible rate is 95.5%, and the drying rate is 37.2%. This variety has strong cold resistance, salt and alkali tolerance, likes water and fertilizer, and its fruit will crack slightly when it rains. It is an excellent variety for both fresh eating and processing. It is most suitable for raw food, and the processed wine dates have a unique flavor. It is a key promotion variety in Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation Area.

Lingwu Mountain Grass Sheep

Lingwu Mountain Grass Sheep has a history of more than 200 years. As early as the Qing Dynasty, it was most famous for its fur, which was exported to Europe. The "Yinchuan Xiaozhi" compiled in the 20th year of Qianlong's reign (1755) recorded: "All states in Ningxia produce sheepskins, and Lingzhou produces long-haired wheat ears and fox skins." It is also prolific everywhere. ""Mao wheat ear" was the name people used for the mountain grass wool ear flower at that time.

Sheep have a long history of survival in Lingwu. The primitive sheep fossils discovered by cultural relics workers in Majiatan Town, Lingwu, prove that as early as 6 million years ago, lakes were dotted here and rivers were winding. The land is lush with vegetation, and primitive sheep that are similar in size to modern goats breed here.