Linxia City - History

History

In the past, Linxia City was called Hezhou, and the surrounding area was sometimes known as Hezhou Prefecture.

Throughout its history, Hezhou often was the crossing of important trade routes: one of the alternative paths of the east-way Silk Route, connecting China's heartland with Central Asia, and the north-south route linking Mongolia and Tibet. During parts of the Song Dynasty period, when the Western Xia took control of the more northerly path of the Silk Route, the more southerly Didao-Hezhou-Xining alternative path of the Silk Route may have become particularly important, making all three cities important commercial centers. Historians think that it was then, during the Song Dynasty, that the Muslims of Hezhou probably built their first mosque.