Zhongshan Park is the largest park in Yinchuan city, covering a site of 32 hectares in the northwest of the city. The park was built by Zhao Yuanhoa after he established the Western Xia Kingdom (1038 to 1227), the capital of which was the city we now know as Yinchuan. He built his palace around the lakeside at Zhongshan to be close to the immense natural beauty of this area.
The park has had a variety of purposes over the centuries. After the fall of the Western Xia Kingdom, the park was used as a meeting place for the diverse ethnic groups living in the area (including the Hui, Han and Manchu) who conducted business and held festivals here. Festivals are still held in the park, the most picturesque of which is arguably the Yinchuan Ice Lantern & Ice sculpture Tourism Festival, held every February. It was renamed Zhongshan Park in 1929 to commemorate the achievements of Sun Zhongshan (often called ''Sun Yat-Sun'' by non-Chinese), father of the Chinese Democratic Revolution.
The lake covers an area of 6.7 hectares, around which there are a multitude of scenic spots with such evocative and expressive names as ''Pavilion in the Twilight of the Setting Sun'', ''Lotus Pond in the Shape of a River'', ''Iron Buffalo Drinking from the Pond'' and ''Autumn Grass Swaying atop Ancient Walls'' A stone tablet inscribed in the calligraphic ''handwriting'' of Yue Fei (a decorated General from the Song Dynasty
era) is another feature of the park, but for visitors after a more active way to spend their day, a golf course has recently been built, as has a zoo, several greenhouses and an aquarium.
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