Save Type Political Subdivision Usage Chinese Scripts 宁夏(Chinese) 寧夏(Traditional Chinese) Pronounced Pron. /niŋ.ɕjä/ [key·simplify] Meaning & History From Chinese 宁 (níng) meaning "peaceful, calm, serene" and 夏 (xià) referring to the Western Xia, an empire that existed from 1038 to 1227. This is the name of an autonomous region in China.