The six cities and one mountain village featured in this section cover an area of northern China that includes parts of Shanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia, roughly following the central loop of the Yellow River, north of Xi'an.
This arid portion of China contains desert, grassland, and, most conspicuously, loess plateau made of the powdery yellow soil that gave the Yellow River and the legendary Yellow Emperor their names. (For an object lesson in what makes the river yellow, wash your T-shirt in the sink after a day of touring the loess cliffs of Yan'an.) This powder of sand and silt has for millennia been deposited over this part of north and northwest China by winds blowing across the Gobi Desert.
Rich in history, the area lays claim to most of China's oldest surviving timber-frame buildings, its oldest carved Buddhist grottoes, and the mausoleums of nine Xi Xia (1038-1227) emperors. The area around Taiyuan in Shanxi Province is recognized as one of China's "cradles of civilization," and it was here that the mythical sage kings Yao, Shun, and Yu are said to have performed their miracles.
From Beijing, Datong is the logical gateway. Going south, a 10-day itinerary might include Datong; the sacred Buddhist mountain, Wutai Shan; the Shanxi capital of Taiyuan; and Pingyao, one of China's best-preserved walled cities. For the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and the relics and monuments of the tribes from beyond the Great Wall, go west from Datong -- first to Hohhot, and then to Yinchuan, the provincial capital of Ningxia. There is enough to see for a 3- or 4-day stay in each city. The revolutionary sites and cave dwellings of Yan'an could be added as the last stop on either itinerary or as the stepping stone between the two.
Piercing winds and icy air currents from the north keep most travelers away from this region from late November to mid-March. Moving south, summer temperatures can be scorching, but evenings are generally comfortable.