History of Wuzhong

During the early and mid-19th century, the territory of today’s Wuzhong—as well as much of northern Ningxia—became a stronghold of the Jahriyya Sufi order(menhuan), which was headquartered in the town of Jinjipu (a few km south of today’s Wuzhong’s main urban area). Under the leadership of the order’s fourth and fifth shaykhs, Ma Yide (the 1770s-1849) and Ma Hualong (d. 1871), it grew wealthy from the profits of caravan trade across Inner Mongolia, between Baotou, Huhhotand Beijing. Jinjipu became an important commercial and religious center.