<A>Welcom to Henan

My beautiful home

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, lies at the place 25 km to the south of Huanghe River. It is the political, economic and cultural center of the province. Under its jurisdiction there are 5 cities, 1 county and 6 districts covering an area of 7446.2 square kilometers with a population of 6.003 million, of the area, 1010 kilometers belongs to the urban districts with the population of 2.057 million. Beijing-Guangzhou and Longhai Railways, Beijing-Zhuhai and Lianhuo Freeways meet here. It is one of the important hubs of railway & highway transportation, 50 airlines of civil aviation connect with other places.
　Zhengzhou is changing the comprehensive commercial & trading center and is in the arrangement of big circulation. Many of large-sized commercial facilities and wholesale markets have been constructed in the city; it is the famous commercial & trading city throughout the country.The well-known tourism resources mainly include Huanghe Scene, the Nativity of the Emperor Huangdi (Yellow Emperor, a legendary ruler in China), Shaolin Kungfu and Shopping Paradise, main scenic spots contain Shaolin Temple, Zhongyue Temple, Astronomical Observatory, Songyue Temple Pagoda, etc.

Shaolin Temple
It was built in the 19th year during the reign of Emperor Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (495 AD). Emperor Xiaowen, Yuanhong gave an edict to build for settling an Indian senior monk named Batuo. Located at the west foot of the central holy mountains Mt. Songshan adjacent to the Wuru peak in the back and facing to Mt. Shaoshi. It is 100 km away from Zhengzhou City. The main scenes contain permanent courtyard, the Forest of Stupas, the First Founder's Hall, the Second founder's hall and Dharma Cave, etc. The permanent courtyard was built adjoining to the mountains with a floorage of over 30000 square meters. In the yard, the central-axis construction is composed with the seven parts including Hill Gate, Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Palace, the Depositary of Buddhist Texts, Abbot Room, Dharma Pavilion and 1000-Buddha Hall. On the western side, there are six founders' hall, Jinnaluo Hall, the East and West Chan Halls, Dicang Hall and White-robe Hall etc. The Forest of Stupas (covers an area of over 20000 square meters), with over 240 tombs of heads of from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, is the largest ancient group of stupas in China. The Fist Founder's Hall, also called Mianbi Hall (facing wall), in honor of Dharma, is a small construction group. Located at the place over 10 meters from the top of Wuru Hill, Dharma Cave is a natural one, 5 meters deep & 3 meters wide, famous as Dharma's facing wall here for nine years. Situated at the Nanboyu Hill of the permanent courtyard, the Second Founder's Hall was built to commemorate Huike, the second founder of the sect, who healed his wound & stood in knee-deep snow awaiting Dharma after he cut off his own arm to show unswerving devotion. Shaolin Temple is well-known to all for the Dharma's facing wall for 9 years here, the 1st founder's was named "Monastery No. 1 ". "Shaolin Kuangfu is famous in the world, Wushu is famous for the temple", the temple is famous for its Kuangfu.
Huanghe River Scenic Area
Located at the place 30 km away from the northwest of Zhengzhou, it lies at the place between the Huanghe River and Mt. Songshan, the Huanghe River rushed last narrow flowing to plains and then it is formed suspension riverbed. The Scenic Area at Huanghe River was firstly constructed in the year 1970 covering an area of 5.5 square kilometers. The main scenic spots have various characters, but with accordatura. It forms a hill & water picture stroll regarding "the Cradle of Chinese Nation" as theme.