Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (simplified Chinese: 临夏回族自治州; traditional Chinese: 臨夏回族自治州; pinyin: Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu, Xiao'erjing: لٍ‌ثِيَا خُوِزُوْ زِجِ‌جِوْ‎), formerly known as Hezhou (河州) and Baohan (枹罕), is located in Gansu Province, south of the provincial capital Lanzhou, bordering Qinghai to the west.

[2] Large number of people lost their lives on both sides of the conflict, in particular during the rebels' attacks on Kong clan's villages around Dachuan 1864.

[2] After the Qing general Zuo Zongtang had finally destroyed the rebels farther east, in Shaanxi and Ningxia, he tried to take Hezhou in the late 1872, but his troops were badly defeated by Ma Zhan'ao's Muslim fighters at the battle of Taizi Mosque,[4] and he failed to make a foothold west of the Tao River (which today more or less forms the border between Dingxi and Linxia Prefectures).

[3] Nonetheless, in order to ensure the government's control over the region, since 1873 Muslims were prohibited to live within the city walls of Hezhou.

[6][7] Well-known Muslim individuals in Hezhou in the 1940s included La Shih-Chun, who was part of the Gansu Provincial Government Committee and Ma Chuanyuan, the supermagistrate of five districts.

[8] In 1955, just a few years after the creation of the People's Republic of China, the Communist government announced a large-scale program of hydroelectric dam construction on the Yellow River.

The dams contributed greatly to the national economy - Liujiaxia Hydro Power Station remained the country's largest until the 1980s - but the reservoirs they created in narrow, but fertile valleys of the Yellow River and its tributaries displaced a large number of local farmers.

[9] It is said that the residents received lower compensation amount than they could otherwise because in 1958, when the Yanguoxia project started, they understated the value of their assets, as they were afraid to be classified as "rich peasants", i.e. class enemies.

A type of thick cold wheat noodles called Niangpi (a species of Liangpi) is a popular local dish, served with spongy tofu and spicy sauce.

In accordance with the 1954 PRC Constitution, autonomous prefectures were empowered to enact legislation in light of local circumstances.

However, in the nearly sixty years of Party-State rule (2010s), only seven local regulations have been passed pursuant to the power of legal autonomy.

The prefecture's capital, Linxia City (formerly known as Hezhou), is the center of trade, transport, and industry for the area directly south of Lanzhou.

Linxia is also a stop on trips from Lanzhou to towns in the Tibetan parts of southern Gansu including the famed Labrang Monastery in Xiahe.