Advantage of Henan

Advantage 

  Henan, with rich cultural relics, is a province of abundant tourism resources. For tourists at home and abroad, especially those who seek with great enthusiasm the oriental culture and the headstream of Chinese civilization, Henan is just like an immense natural museum of history and a textbook of Chinese history which is visible, tangible, and accessible. The oriental cultural connotations here are rich and unique.

    The beautiful natural sceneries and the glorious cultural connotations of Henan combine the merits of many other places of China. The overall strengths for the growth of tourism lie in the following aspects:

 

    1. The ancient cultural tourist resources in Henan are superior in taste.

    Henan is one of the cradles of the Chinese civilization. In China’s history of over six thousand years, more than 20 dynasties had their capitals settled in Henan. Of the eight ancient capitals, four of them, namely Luoyang, Kaifeng, Anyang and Zhengzhou, are in Henan. The province boasts of seven historic and cultural towns of national class, 51 historic and cultural sites of national class. The underground cultural relics of Henan rank first in China, while those above ground rank second. The museums of the province have a collection of over 1.3 million pieces of cultural relics, accounting for nearly one eighth of the total of the nation. Therefore, Henan is eulogized by historians as “The Cultural and Natural Museum of China”. Henan Museum, with a fine collection of the cultural relics of the Central Plains, is one of the few modern large museums of national class. Being “the birthplace and the founder of the Zen” in China, the Shaolin Temple is world-famous for the Shaolin Kung Fu. The White Horse Temple, honored as "the Cradle of Buddhism in China", is imbued with extensive and profound Buddhist cultures. The magnificent Buddhist statues in the Longmen Grottoes are recognized as one of the greatest carving art works in the world. Kaifeng, capital city of the Song Dynasty, has won people’s admiration for such ancient celebrities as Bao Zeng, a widely known high civil official beloved and honored for centuries, and the Family of Yang, great in military. The two major sources of Chinese martial arts, the Shaolin Kung Fu and the Taijiquan, both originated in Henan. As sources and heritage of cultures of thousands of years, Henan is of great tourist value with its antiquity and rich tourism resources of multi-dimensions.
    2. The “Genealogical Culture” of Henan is unique and advantageous.
    First of all, Henan is the origin of Chinese nationalities, the native place of Chinese ancestory. Those legendary rulers of China in remote antiquity, such as the Three Sovereigns (Fuxi, Suiren and Shennong) and the Five Emperors (Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Tangyao, and Yushun) all thrived on this land. The Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of the Chinese, was born in Xinzheng, next to Zhengzhou. Fuxi, the primogenitor of the Chinese people, established his capital in Huaiyang, a county in Henan, which the former Premier Zhu Rongji called the “Capital of Emperor Fuxi”. Secondly, just as the culture of the Central Plains is the origin of the oriental culture, Heluo Culture originated from between the Yellow River and the Luohe River and is the cradle of the Central Plains culture. Judging from the cultural relics found, Henan has such ancient cultural sites as the Peiligang Culture, the Yangshao Culture, the Erlitou Culture, and the Miaodigou Culture. Thirdly, the oracle bone inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th—11th century B.C.) found in Anyang are the earliest Chinese characters found up to now. Next, great ancient works, such as The Book of Changes, which is profound in that it embraces ancient culture, and Tao Te Ching which is deep in philosophy, were both written in Henan. Finally, 73 of the 100 largest family names of China came from Henan, thus blessing Henan with the special advantages for special tourism programs on seeking the origin of one’s family and even that of the Chinese people or worshiping the ancestors.
    3. Henan is rich in historical and cultural heritages.
    With dynasties coming and going, the Central Plains witnessed one historic event after another amid the vicissitudes of the nations on the more than thousand-year-long history of China. Henan can also be called the origin of Chinese scientific and cultural history involving astronomy, medicine, seismology, philology, and philosophy of Taoism. Every inch of the land in Henan is soaked with cultural connotations accumulated in the long river of history that witnessed such great events ranging from wars at the end of the Shang dynasty (1600—1046B.C.), the chaos in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (770—221B.C.), the uprising led by Chen Sheng against the Qin dynasty (221—206 B.C.) to the Taiping revolution in the Qing dynasty (1644—1911). Many classic Chinese ancient stories taking place on this land, including those mentioned above, were later boiled down to idioms known almost to everyone in China. The Book of Songs, highly praised as ancestral classic works of Chinese literature, is regarded as one of the cornerstones in Chinese culture, together with Elucidations of the Signs and Literature Explications of the Graphs by Xu Shen, the Jian’an school of literature created by Cao Cao (the great statesman in the period of Three Kingdom) and his son Cao Zhi. The prose of the Tang dynasty and the Song dynasty represented by Han Yu and those classic works of great poets such as Du Fu, Li Bai, Bai Juyi as well as many others represent the classical achievements of Chinese artists.
    4. The natural scenery of Henan is characterized by both the majesty of the north and the delicacy of the south.
    Lying on the smooth transition belt from south to north, Henan covers the four major river systems in China, namely the Haihe, the Yellow River, the Huaihe and the Yangtze River. Within its domain, there are two natural reserves of national class, such as the Jigong Mountain and Baotianman, 12 reserves of provincial class, five scenic spots of national class and fifteen scenic spots of provincial class, including the towering Taihang Mountains, the beautiful Dabie Mountains, the majestic Funiu Mountains and the grand Songshan Mountain (the middle one of the five major famous mountains in China), and the charming Yellow River sightseeing area, with a huge value to tourism and a great potential in integrative development.
    5. Tourist festivals held in Henan have widespread and positive influence.
    The Luoyang Peony Festival, held annually since 1983, has made a considerable influence all over the world. Zhengzhou International Shaolin Kungfu Festival has become an important window in the opening up of Henan towards the world, with its purpose of making friends by means of Kungfu display. The Kaifeng Chrysanthemum Festival boasts of its unparalleled scale, richness of variety and superior taste. Other festivals, including the Xinyang Tea Festival, the Sanmenxia Yellow River International Tourism Festival, the Xinzheng Yanhuang Culture and Art Festival on the origin of the Chinese culture, and the Yinshang Culture Festival, have served as important attractions to tourists all over the world and major windows for tourists to learn more about Henan.
    6. Henan has an advantageous location for the development of tourism.
    Having been called “Zhongzhou”, namely “Central China” since ancient time, Henan enjoys convenient transportation, which guarantees the development of tourism. Major railways such as Jingguang, Longhai, Jingjiu, Jiaozhi, Xinhe and Xintai cross each other in Zhengzhou, Shangqiu, Luoyang, Xinxiang and Jiaozuo. The cross-shaped expressways centering on Zhengzhou offer excellent service. Henan has three airports, located separately in Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Nanyang, among which Zhengzhou Airport, the 4E class international airport, serves as the standby airport of the Capital Airport as well as the major junction in the air transportation of Central China.