Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan province and is one of the transport hub in China because it’s quite center to the country. The city is just situated south of the Yellow River and agriculture plays a big role in the economy of Henan province. Zhengzhou commodity exchange is one of the 3 futures exchange in China.

Took a public bus to Henan provincial museum.

Henan provincial museum is one of the more famous one in China because many old Chinese cities was in Henan province and many old artifacts were found at the surrounding area.

Writings on the shell of a turtle, JiaGuWen. Used to historical and divine records before the invention of paper.

Ding, used to store food and for sacrificial ceremony during ancient times. This ding is used during the Shang dynasty, around 3500 years old.

There are exhibits from different dynasties in the museum starting from the Neolithic period, then Xia (around 2010-1600BC, is even older than Egyption history and civilization.)

Then came Shang, Zhou, Warring Period, Qin, Han, Tang, Song and was pretty educational to me.

Bronze mirror (TongJing), before the invention of mirror.

Han style architecture, more than 2000 years ago.

There is also a section about the 4 great invention of ancient China,
Compass, Gunpowder, Papermaking and Printing.

Walked to Zhengzhou new district which is at the east part of the city.

View Zhengzhou in a larger map
The new district was designed by a Japanese architect and the planning for the new city had won some awards for the city planning design.

A paper about Zhengzhou new district by KPMG.

An old chinese game, a guy whipping the top.

Don’t do your laundry in the river.

The CBD (Central business district) is built in a circular shape

with a lake in the middle

Stayed at a bath house (30 Yuan~USD4.5) since it’s cheaper than the hotel I was staying at.

Arrived at Kaifeng train station at 6.45am in the morning.

Breakfast (1.5 Yuan~USD$0.20)

Kaifeng is in Henan province. Henan is the most populous province in China with a population of almost 100 million people. Stored my bag for 8 Yuan, walked around the city and went to the museum. Since the museum only opens at 9am, I visited KaiFengFu first (25 Yuan with student discount ~USD$4). KaiFengFu is something like a municipal government center during the Northern Song dynasty. Everything is rebuilt since the city was buried deep underground.

There are some traditional performances in front of the entrance of KaiFengFu at 9am.

Inside KaiFengFu

The prefecture of Kaifeng was first built in AD 907. Kaifeng is the capital of Northern Song dynasty for 168 years and was one of the biggest metropolis in the world then with a population of around 1.5 million. Some famous individuals in Chinese history such as BaoQingTian and Su DongPo held their post in the city.

Taoism was the national religion then.

One of the few lakes within the city

Kaifeng Museum

Kaifeng lies just 10km south of the yellow river and was flooded hundreds of times during history. The city of Northern Song was actually buried 9m deep under the earth. There aren’t many high rise buildings because buildings that require strong foundation weren’t allowed by the government to protect the old artifacts buried underground.

There are 6 layers of cities in Kaifeng.

Kaifeng is enclosed by a city wall around the city.
City northern gate

Tieta Park (15 Yuan with student discount ~USD2).

Tieta is one of the oldest and tallest pagoda in China. It’s around 55 meters tall and is around 1000 years old. This is only one of the 2 historical structures still remain above the surface in Kaifeng.

LongTing palace, a rebuilt version of the emperor’s residence

Walked to GuLou, an area with many kinds of food.
Fried LiangPi (3.5 Yuan ~USD$0.50)

I noticed that people love eating outside in Kaifeng. I ate all 3 meals today outdoor.

Took train K31 at 2.48pm towards Zhengzhou (13 Yuan~USD$2, 45 minutes ride). Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan with a population of almost 8 million.

Zhengzhou train station

There isn’t any youth hostel in Zhengzhou so stayed at a hotel around the train station (80 Yuan~USD$12).

View across the train station

The weather here wasn’t too cold. Some homeless people sleeping on the street.

Workers from a bakery singing on the street, one of Chinese team building activities

Sticks from fried stuffs

The February 7 Tower was built to mark the great strike by the workers on the Beijing-Hankou (Wuhan) railway in 1923.
February Seven square, ErQi GuangChang.

HuiMian is famous in Zhengzhou, fat noodles with mutton (8 Yuan~USD$1.2)

Walked around and visited a bar/club at WenHua street.