Climate

     China has a wide variety of climates from tropical rainforest in the southeast, temperate climates in the east, arid climates to the north and west and cool to cold climates in the highlands in the southwest and subarctic climates to the northeast.  

     China's climate is relatively uniform as you can see based on the climate map below.  The arid climate is primarily the Gobi Desert in northern China and due primarily to rain clouds being blocked by the Himalayas.  In addition the elevation of the Gobi ranges from 900 - 1500 meters above sea level.  
From:  http://gobidesert.org   
     
     The highland areas in the south are consistently the coldest mainly due to elevation.  While the humid subtropical and continental weather are a result of lower elevations as well as proximity to the Pacific Ocean.      

 Map copied from:  http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/41/105241-004-B4DFC68E.gif

     Beijing is located in northeastern China and experiences extreme temperatures in the winter and summer months with the majority of the precipitation falling in the summer.  The springs are slightly windier and along with autumn have milder temperatures.   See the graph below for more details.  

From:  http://www.beijing.climatemps.com/beijing-climograph.gif

     Compared to Beijing ,Yinchuan is at a higher elevation and is located in north central China essentially on the southern fringes of the Gobi Desert.  

From:  http://www.yinchuan.climatemps.com/yinchuan-climograph.gif

     Compared to Honolulu Hawai'i, where I live, Beijing's weather is much colder in the winter.  Honolulu on the other hand, having a more tropical climate albeit with cooling from the trade winds, has only small fluctuations in temperature and doesn't have a recorded temperature below freezing.  Both cities have their lowest temperature averages in January and highest averages in July.  Additionally both cities experience very similar amounts of precipitation both averaging about 22 inches annually or 57 cm a year.  However, the distinction is that the rainfall predominates in the summer in Beijing while in Honolulu the wettest month is December.  Additionally Honolulu's precipitation is much more consistent where in Beijing two thirds of the annual precipitation occurs in July and August the same volume of rain falls over the course of five months in Honolulu.
From:  http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USHI0026

     Beijing has 4 distinct seasons with a relatively wide temperature range with low temperatures well below freezing in the winter and 1-2 day highs above 90 degrees F.