Henan province is rich in ancient history and full of culture, but it is also home to a shining modernity, Tiffany Tan reports
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| Kafeng's city walls bear witness to the city's 2,700-year history. (Yan Guangjun. China Photo Press) |
It's my first evening in the 2,700-year-old city of Kaifeng and I'm itching to explore its streets, when one of my male companions says, "Be careful you don't get lost, there are at least six cities buried under your feet."
Weeks after my trip to Henan province, the line still keeps playing in my head. It was a light-hearted way to say, "be careful", but it was also a succinct way to communicate Henan's splendid ancient history, which is the foundation of its shiny commercial districts, network of brand-new highways and state-of-the-art cultural shows.
The province was the seat of the first Chinese dynasty, its people created the origins of the Chinese script and it gave rise to China's only female head of state. It is home to the country's first Buddhist temple and considered to be the birthplace of kungfu.
But the latest official guidebooks equally highlight Henan's 21st century innovations, such as Zhengdong New Zone in the capital Zhengzhou, and Millennium City Park in Kaifeng.
The new zone, designed by a Japanese firm and constructed in 2008, is being showcased by the local government as a model of contemporary urban planning. It features towering office buildings beside residential complexes, an art center that houses a music hall and cinemas, and a 280-meter hotel that is the tallest building within five neighboring provinces.
The area's centerpiece is the man-made Dragon Lake, which offers boat rides and holds a fountain show to the rhythm of Chinese folk music every day at 8:30 pm. At dusk, the surrounding square draws vendors offering a range of goods, from pop music CDs to bubble-making toy guns and fashion accessories.
"We have emphasized modern environmental protection, suitable living and working conditions and high technology," says Xue Yunwei, Zhengzhou's deputy mayor. "This is a symbol of openness, development and upgrading."
Some 70 kilometers east is Millennium City Park, a modern addition to Kaifeng's landscape that attempts to recapture the city's golden age during the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279). But little architecture remains from that period or earlier. Previous cities have been buried underground as a result of centuries of flooding by the Yellow River.
The design of Millennium City Park, opened in 1998, was inspired by the hand scroll Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, which depicts Kaifeng life in the Song Dynasty. The 40-hectare park recreates the city's look and feel of 1,000 years ago, complete with folk performances, acrobatic shows and period characters such as government officials, merchants and city guards.
"On the western side of the city we will dig and make a cross-section so tourists can actually see the different layers of the ruins of the ancient cities," says Liu Zhen, head of the Kaifeng Tourism Bureau, discussing an upcoming museum that will display five of the layers.
The Henanese are proud of their history, food and drink. Each of the four cities I visited - Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Dengfeng and Kaifeng - had either its own brand of beer or baijiu (white liquor), or both. Luoyang's 52 percent proof Dukang white liquor has an unforgettably warm and spirited embrace.
Henan kitchens, meanwhile, are best known for huimian, a soup of flat rice noodles and mutton served at the end of a meal; and hulatang, black pepper soup traditionally served for breakfast. If I had room in my luggage, I would have brought home Kaifeng's tongziji, slightly salted and chewy roast chicken, and its guantang baozi, steamed stuffed pork buns.
Henan's unique place in Chinese history can help people better understand the country's past and is an ideal supplement to the knowledge gleaned from more popular tourist destinations like Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an.
"Each of our 18 cities has its own tourist attractions," says He Lin, deputy director of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau. "We just need to work on promoting them more."
But be careful Henan's attractions do not merely become items you tick off on a list, or places you pose for photos. Try to engage the locals.
A chat with a 22-year-old monk at Shaolin Temple revealed that not all of them are martial-arts experts, as people imagine from films and TV. The monks are divided into two groups, he says, those who practice kungfu and those who study the religion.
Also try to look beyond what is in your itinerary. If you let your eyes roam at Luoyang's Longmen Grottoes, at the gates you might chance upon two female retirees doing stretching exercises on the exit rails - locals who have made the 1,500-year-old UNESCO world heritage site their daily exercise venue. Such a scene illustrates how present-day, ordinary life in Henan is so closely linked to its rich beginnings