Northwest China GuideNorth West China was historically a border region with the beginning of the ancient Silk Road, much desert terrain, and mainly Muslim inhabitants including some nomads and rather fierce tribal groups. HotelsFind hotels in Xi'an, Urumchi, Kashgar, Dunhuang and more. XianXian, is a historic city in Shaanxi Province in China. Xi'an is more than 3,000 years old and was known as Chang'an in ancient times. UrumqiUrumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, administered by the People's Republic of China. KashgarKashgar is in the extreme west of China and the Southwest extreme of Xinjiang. It is also at a junction between two branches of the old Silk Road. XinjiangXinjiang is located in the North West of China, in the Mongolian Uplands. It is on the traditional Silk Road. ShaanxiShaanxi, pronounced roughly "Shahn-shee", is a north-central province of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province. GansuGansu is a province in the North West region of China. Historically, it is the combination of the two regions, gan and su, and marked the end or beginning of China proper depending upon if you were traveling east towards Xi'an or west towards Central Asia and Europe. QinghaiQinghai, is a province in the Northwest region of China located south of the Republic of Mongolia, east of Xinjiang, and north of Tibet Auto. NingxiaNingxia is an autonomous region in North West China. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, established on October 25th, 1958, is bordered by Inner Mongolia to the north and west, Shaanxi to the east and Gansu to the south.