Province has rich legacy as historical political center

For those interested in China's long history and splendid culture, Henan province is a place that cannot be missed.

With the Yellow River running through it, the 167,000-square-kilometer province in central China has long been considered one of the main places where Chinese civilization first took root.

Henan is home to four of the eight major capitals of ancient China - Luoyang, Anyang, Kaifeng and Zhengzhou. From these cities, more than 200 emperors of 20 dynasties issued decrees.

Henan remained China's cultural, economic and political center until approximately 1,000 years ago. The province has around 65,000 heritage sites and monuments left behind by its long era of prosperity.

Although visitors might follow different itineraries as they travel in Henan, some destinations almost invariably sit atop the list of must-see attractions - the Longmen Grottoes, the historic monuments of Dengfeng and the ruins of Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) Yinxu, all of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Longmen Grottoes

Lying 12 km south of downtown Luoyang, the grottoes were built during the reign of five dynasties from 439 AD to 1127 and are widely recognized as one of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist sculpture.

Stretching for 1 km, the complex houses some 100,000 statues of Buddha and his disciples in roughly 2,300 niches carved out of the limestone cliffs of the Xiangshan and Longmen mountains, which face each other across the Yihe River, flowing south to north.

Some 60 percent of the statues were carved in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and they vary sharply in size. The smallest is only 25 centimeters tall, while the tallest - the statue of Vairocana Buddha - is 17 meters in height, and its ears alone are almost 2 m long.

The plumpish statue, which takes on a naturally peaceful expression, is located at the Fengtian Cave, and it was built between AD 672 and 675 on the orders of Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty.

This statue and eight others in the same shrine that bear different expressions are reputed to be the best the grottoes have to offer and also a representative of the vigorous, elegant and realistic style characteristic of Tang carving.

There are also approximately 2,500 steles and 60 pagodas built in different dynasties as well.

The Longmen Grottoes are "an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity", according to the UNESCO official website.

Dengfeng monuments

It is a 40-minute drive from the Longmen Grottoes to the Songshan Mountains, where there is a historic architectural complex composed of 11 traditional structures in Dengfeng city.

Among this collection of monuments, collectively dubbed "The Center of Heaven and Earth", is Shaolin Temple, the famed 1,500-year-old cradle of Chinese kung fu and Zen Buddhism.

In addition to its martial arts performances, many visitors come to see a famed stone tablet covered in carvings.

Erected in 1565, the tablet's different sides show portraits of Buddha Sakyamuni, Confucius and Laozi, founder of China's indigenous Taoism religion. It served as a call for the co-existence of the three major schools of thoughts in ancient China.

The Shaolin Temple is also known for its pagoda forest, the largest of its kind in China.

Most of the 228 tomb pagodas, the oldest dating back to 791 AD, are stone and brick structures, ranging from one to seven stories, and were based on the achievements of the monks for whom they were built.

They are in a number of styles, which vary somewhat according to the era in which they were built, and most are multi-eaved and pavilion-style.

Also in the collection is the Dengfeng Observatory. Built in 1276 in the early Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) at the behest of Kublai Khan, it is China's oldest extant facility for stargazers and some say it stands as a testimony to astronomical achievements in ancient China.

In 1281, Guo Shoujing, a prominent astronomer, based on his observations and calculations at the observatory, worked out the Season-Granting Calendar, which was officially put in use for 364 years.

In this calendar, a tropical year was determined to be 365.2425 days, a value almost in accord with that of the Gregorian calendar, which was created 300 years later.

Other members of the collection include the Songyang Academy, built in AD 484, as well as the 1,500-year-old Pagoda of Songyue Temple, and three pairs of towers - Taishi, Shaoshi, and Qimu - built during the Han Dynasty (206 BC- AD 220).

Yinxu in Anyang

Yinxu, located in the city of Anyang in northern Henan, is much older than the Longmen Grottoes and the group of monuments at Dengfeng.

Yinxu literally means the ruins of Yin, the last capital of the Shang Dynasty. Twelve kings ruled from here for eight generations and more than 250 years.

Covering 30 sq km, it is recognized as one of the oldest and largest archeological sites in China.

The site is famous as the original source of oracle bones and the oracle bone script, the earliest form of Chinese writing.

Following the accidental discovery of the first oracle bone in 1899, more than 150,000 pieces have been unearthed, showing the Shang people had a well-structured script and a complete system of written signs.

Also revealed in excavations are more than 80 rammed-earth foundation sites, including palaces, shrines, tombs and workshops, and more than 6,000 bronze artifacts, including the Simuwu Ding.

A square-shaped cooking vessel, the Houmuwu Ding is 133 cm tall, 110 cm long and 78 cm wide, weighing 875 kilograms.

The largest bronze vessel unearthed in the world, it is considered one of the best examples of bronze casting technology in the Shang and Zhou (c. 11th century-771 BC) dynasties.

According to archeologists, the king of the Shang Dynasty had the Simuwu Ding made to memorialize his mother.

Yinxu also features the Exhibition Hall of Chariot Pits, which displays the earliest samples of animal-driven carts discovered in China.

The six pits each contain the remains of a carriage and two horses. And five of the pits were also found to contain the remains of a human sacrifice.

Also on display are the remains of an 8.35-meter-wide Shang Dynasty road discovered at the Anyang Aero Sports School in 2000.

Contact the writers at shibaoyin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/27/2012 page19)