Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, and former capital of the Western Xia Empire of the Tanguts. It has an area of and a total population of 1.99 million. Its built up area is home to 1,290,170 inhabitants spread on three urban districts. The name of the city literally means "silver river"; the character for "river" is the same as that in Sichuan, but not as those in, for example, the Yellow River  or Yangtze River .