Hetao

Hetao (Chinese: 河套; pinyin: Hétào; lit. 'river loop') is a C-shaped region in northwestern China consisting of a collection of flood plains stretching from the banks of the northern half of the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular bend of the Yellow River that forms the river's entire middle section. The region makes up the northern margin of the Ordos Basin, bounded in the west by the Helan Mountains, the north by the Yin Mountains, the east by the northern portion of Lüliang Mountains, and the south by the Ordos Desert and the Loess Plateau (separated by the course of the Ming Great Wall).

The Hetao region is divided into two main sections — the "West Loop" (Chinese: 西套; pinyin: Xītào) in Ningxia, and the "East Loop" (Chinese: 东套; pinyin: Dōngtào) in Inner Mongolia. The west section includes the alluvial Yinchuan Plain (Chinese: 银川平原, a.k.a. Ningxia Plain) around Shizuishan, Yinchuan and Wuzhong, and the Weining Plain (Chinese: 卫宁平原) around Zhongwei. The east section is further divided into two parts — the western "Back Loop" (Chinese: 后套), which includes the Bayannur Plain (Chinese: 巴彦淖尔平原) around Bayannur; and the eastern "Front Loop" Chinese: 西套; pinyin: Qiántào), which includes the Tumochuan Plain (Chinese: 土默川平原) around Baotou and Hohhot.

Unlike the arid desert/steppe environment near by, the Hetao plains are fertile grasslands quite suitable for pastoral and agricultural activities, and was frequently used by various Eurasian nomads as a staging area for raiding east into the Central Plain and south into the Loess Plateau and Guanzhong Region. Throughout Chinese history, this region was of major strategic importance against northern invaders, particularly during the Han and Tang dynasties.

v t e Plains of China
Northeast China Plain	Sanjiang Plain Songnen Plain Songliao Plain Liaohe Plain Amur River Valley Yalu River Valley
North China Plain	Haihe Plain Yellow River Flood Plain Yellow River Delta Jiaolai Plain Huaihe Plain Huanghuai Plain Lixiahe Plain
Middle and Lower Reaches Plain of Yangtze River	Lianghu Plain (Dongtinghu Plain Jianghan Plain) Boyanghu Plain Wanzhong Yanjiang Plain Yangtze River Delta Taihu Plain Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou (Hangjiahu) Plain Xiaoshao Plain Ganfu Plain Liyang Plain Chaohu Plain Jianghuai Plain
Coastal Plains in Southeast China	Ningshao Plain Wenhuang Plain Weirui Plain Aojiang Plain Fujian Plains(Fuzhou Plain Xinghua Plain Quanzhou Plain Zhangzhou Plain) Chaoshan Plain Pearl River Delta Xunjiang Plain Nanliu River Delta Binyang Plain Yuen Long Plain
Upper and Middle Reaches Plains of Yellow River	Huangshui Valley Yinchuan Plain Hetao Plain Tumochuan Plain Fen River Valley Yuncheng Basin Qinshui Basin Guanzhong Plain
Other Plains	Chengdu Plain Han River Valley Ili River Valley Hexi Corridor

See also