Rinka

A county-level city in the midwest of Gansu Province, China. It is located downstream of the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River, and borders Qinghai Province to the west. It is the seat of the provincial government of the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It has a population of 244,900 (2013). Before the Qin Dynasty, it was an inhabited area of ​​the Qiang people, but during the Han Dynasty, Fuhan County was established, and then Hezhou was established during the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms period. After that, together with Taozhou (now Lintan County) established in the upper reaches of the Tao River to the south, it developed as a gateway city from Guanzhong to Qinghai and Tibet. Located in a rugged terrain, it was a strategic military location, and also a trading center for specialty products. In particular, during the Ming Dynasty, a tea and horse trading center was established along with Taozhou, and tea from the interior was traded for horses from the Tibetan plateau. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Hui people have been settling in Linxia to develop undeveloped areas, and in 1956, the Hui Autonomous Prefecture was established, centered on Linxia.

Industry is not very active, with only a small amount of arable land and the cultivation of wheat and millet in the mountains, and the grazing of horses, sheep, and mules. The Liujiaxia Dam was built at the point where the Daxia River flows into the Yellow River, and behind it are the Bingling Temple Grottoes, which were excavated during the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms period.

[Motohide Akiyama, Editorial Department, June 20, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、甘粛(かんしゅく)省中西部の県級市。黄河(こうが)上流の支流大夏河(たいかが)の下流に位置し、西は青海(せいかい)省に接する。臨夏回族自治州の州政府所在地である。人口24万4900（2013）。秦(しん)以前はチャン族（羌(きょう)族）の居住地であったが、漢に枹罕(ふかん)県が置かれ、ついで五胡(ごこ)十六国時代に河州が置かれ、以後、南の洮河(とうが)上流に設けられた洮州（現、臨潭(りんたん)県）とともに、関中(かんちゅう)より青海、チベットに至る門戸の都市として発達した。険阻な地形にあって軍事的な要衝であると同時に、特産品の交易中心地でもあり、とくに明(みん)代には洮州とともに茶馬司が置かれ、内地の茶とチベット高原のウマが交換された。また、元代以来、未開地の開拓に入植する回族の集住が進み、1956年、臨夏を中心に回族自治州が設けられた。

　産業はわずかな耕地や山地での麦、雑穀の栽培のほか、ウマ、ヒツジ、ラバの放牧が行われる程度で振るわない。大夏河が黄河に流入する地点には劉家峡(りゅうかきょう)ダムが設けられ、その奥に五胡十六国時代から掘削された炳霊寺石窟(へいれいじせっくつ)がある。

［秋山元秀・編集部　2017年6月20日］

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