The Imperial Tombs of Western Xia is located about 25 kilometers to the west of Yinchuan on the eastern slope of Mount Helan. This imperial tomb is as grand as Ming Tombs of Beijing as it covers over 50 square kilometers of area with nine imperial tombs and over 250 lesser tombs to be excavated sine year 1972. Similar to any other imperial tombs throughout the nation, the Imperial Tombs of Western Xia were composed of gardens on the ground and underground palaces. All the gardens of theses imperial tombs were designed with their very own characteristics even though some of them are some sort similar to the imperial tombs of Tang and Northern Song Dynasties.
Basically, each tomb was designed in a unified layout and occupying an area of over 10000 square meters which surrounded by inner and outer wall. Besides that, there are watchtowers at the four corners of the wall and the gardens were decorated with stone gates and tablet pavilion. The unique characteristics of the Imperial Tombs of Western Xia are clearly visible on the spiritual terraces. The mounds of the Han, Tang and Northern Song dynasties are generally high, square-based packed earth mounds with tapering tops cut flat and gently sloped sides. Completely different, the mounds of Imperial Tombs of Western Xia look like squat Buddhist pagodas, round or octagonal and about 20 meters high.
The Western Xia was a dynasty which had close relations with the Han regime. At first it acknowledged allegiance to the Tang and the Song dynasties, but later it entered into rivalry with the Song and its rulers assumed the imperial title in confrontation with Song. Even more so, they mingled culturally and the Western Xia practiced the Tang and the Song political and economic systems, created its written language by using the basic parts of Chinese characters, and learned in other respects. One point worthy of attention is that in making use of, and learning from, the experiences of the Tang and the Song, the Western Xia were not indiscriminate but were selective and creative. This is demonstrated in the architecture of Imperial Tombs of Western Xia.