It consists of the seven county-level divisions Yuanzhou, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan and Tongxin.

[4] In the 1970s, Xihaigu was named one of the "most unfit place for human settlement" by the World Food Programme due to its fragile ecology and vulnerability for droughts.

[5] Due to climate change, destruction of forests during the Tang and Ming dynasty and later intensive farming and rapid population growth resulting in overpopulation, the area was transformed from fertile grounds to arid land.

[4] The Chinese government funds water conservation technology and ecological restoration.

Due to lack of suitable land, residents were later relocated on a voluntary basis to places further north close the Yellow River and to the cities of Yinchuan and Shizuishan which had better existing infrastructure.