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Destinations & Articles
ZhengZhou
Cradle
of Chinese Civilization
Published in the
Summer 2010 Issue of Canadian World
Traveller
By Michael Morcos
It
was a humid, overcast day and Mt. Songshan, the sacred Chinese
mountain behind me, was hidden in the fog that coiled over its
slopes like a slumbering dragon.
In
front of me, long rows of 1,200 year-old pagodas loomed
through the mist, their tall towers outlined with ghostly
petal-shaped eaves. Close by the “pagoda forest” stood an
ancient Shaolin temple, the birthplace of Kung Fu and Zen
Buddhism.
As
I marveled at the majesty of China’s past, its ambitious,
energetic present was only 40 kilometres away — the object
of my visit, the city of ZhengZhou, a metropolis of eight
million people that is both the cradle of Chinese civilization
and an important part of this teeming nation’s rapidly
evolving future.
 China’s
Heartland
ZhengZhou
is located on the Yellow River in the central Chinese province
of Henan, 600 km south of Beijing. A transportation hub, its
impressive airport boasts a variety of international carriers
serving the city’s dynamic manufacturing sector and
world-class tourist destinations.
Founded
over 3,600 years ago by the Shang dynasty of rulers, ZhengZhou
was China’s first imperial capital, reaching its pinnacle
under the Song dynasty (9th - 12th
century AD), the golden age of Chinese history.
Today,
that storied past is visible in hundreds of historic sites and
attractions. Wherever you wander, it quickly becomes clear why
the ZhengZhou area is considered the Chinese heartland — the
region is responsible for many of the innovations that mark
China’s enormous contribution to human progress over the
centuries, whether technical (the invention of indoor
plumbing, eyeglasses, paper, and the first ever printing
press), or cultural (the world’s first libraries, secular
literature, and transcribed musical compositions).
 And,
yes, as befits an area that helped develop rice cultivation,
dumplings, and
pasta, the food is downright delicious.
A
Modern Town
Given
the wealth of history on display, it may surprise visitors to
see how up-to-date ZhengZhou is.
While the sheer number of
people in the streets can be daunting, the city retains a
pleasant atmosphere.
Modern, well signposted, filled with
parks and gardens, and boasting a total of nine 4-and-5-star
hotels, ZhengZhou generally feels airy and relaxed despite its
hustle and bustle.
The
downtown radiates outward from the central Erqi Memorial along
five major thoroughfares; within strolling distance are the
city’s main shopping, entertainment and eating districts. At
night, downtown side streets jam with vendors selling exotic
snacks and curios.
 International
Influences
I
made sure to sample local cuisine at lunch hour, trying
signature dishes like hu
la tang (a spicy and sour soup with glass noodles,
seaweed, and meat) and zhengjiao
(long steamed dumplings). Oftentimes, dining out became an
opportunity to meet well-wishers, or passersby wanting to
practice English.
China’s
recent rush to international prominence is reflected by the
attitudes of its citizens, many of whom are knowledgeable
about the outside world.
They are also influenced by it, as I
found out when I stumbled onto a wedding party — the groom
resplendent in a natty suit, his consort wearing a fairytale
wedding gown any Canadian bride would die for. The local
touch? Two interlocked gold padlocks held aloft by the happy
couple, symbolizing love for ever after.
Grand
Heritage
Once
comfortable in ZhengZhou’s humid subtropical climate (beware
the May-September rains), I set out to explore the area’s
many cultural treasures. But where to start?
The City God
Temple, home of the traditional local deity? Or perhaps a
stroll in the Yellow River Scenic Area, its 13 kilometres of
views dominated by 50-metre high granite busts of two
legendary emperors?
China’s
attractions, modern and ancient, invariably tend towards the
lavish and grand; as a result, even the laziest daytrip can
quickly test the number of adjectives in any tourist’s
vocabulary (“Colossal! Exquisite! Amazing!”).
In
the ZhengZhou region, I had to choose between visiting the
neighbouring city of Gongyi’s Song Emperor Tombs (colossal)
and heading to nearby Xinzheng’s Temple of the Yellow
Emperor (exquisite). Instead, I plumped for a third option 112
km to the west but easily reachable by bus: the amazing
Buddhas of the Longmen Grottoes just outside the city of
Louyang.
 Longmen
Ghettoes
At
a time when medieval Europe was building cathedrals, Chinese
Buddhist monks took a simpler but equally breathtaking
approach to the divine — they cut vast shrines from the
sheer rock of mountainsides, carving elaborately sculpted
caves (or “grottoes”), and transforming whole cliff-faces
into unsurpassable stone statuary.
Though
present elsewhere around ZhengZhou (there are beautiful
grottoes in Gongyi, for instance), these incredible
achievements can be best seen at Longmen, where monks laboured for 500 years
creating one of the wonders of the world, now a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
The
place itself is a revelation. Imagine if you can a
mountainside torn away to reveal towering statues of the
Buddha up to 17 metres tall; everywhere the surrounding cliffs
pitted with grottos and niches (2,345 in all), their contents
a treasure-trove of over 100,000 religious sculptures hewn
from the sandstone rock-face.
In
many of the grottos, every inch of space, including floors and
ceilings, is covered with devotional carvings. On the cliffs
outside, the giant statues pose frozen in the rock, defying
the teachings of Buddha himself that all things are
transitory.
 Henan
Provincial Museum
Back
in ZhengZhou, I visited the Henan Provincial Museum (8 Nongye
Rd in the city’s north end) to make sense of everything
I’d seen.
Housed in a mammoth eye-catching pyramid, the museum boasts
an extraordinary collection of artifacts from China’s
8,000-year history.
Well-captioned
in English (audio is also available), the exhibits include
many rare relics, notably a burial gown made of jade and some
of the earliest musical instruments known anywhere
(demonstrations using replicas take place regularly). Expect
to see lots of gold, along with priceless jewelry, ceramics,
sculpture, paintings, and porcelain.
Millennium
City Park
ZhengZhou
and its environs remain just as absorbing after nightfall. One
evening I ventured to the smaller, skyscraper-free city of
Kaifeng (45 minutes by train), long ago the residence of a
tourist named Marco Polo.
Upon
arrival, I headed off to the Millennium City Park, dedicated
to the sort of spectacle only the Chinese can pull off. The
park is based entirely on a famous Song Dynasty picture, Going
Upriver for the Qingming Festival.
Details of the painting illustrating daily life during Song
times are recreated throughout the elaborate theme park, which
features intricate period architecture, torch parades, and
“10thcentury-style shopping.”
 Song
Dynasty Show
Even
more spectacular is the song-and-dance production put on
nightly at another Kaifeng theme park dedicated to the Song
era, the Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden.
The show,
“Dreamlike Prosperity of the Eastern Capitol,” depicts
life in Bianliang, the Song capital. Vivid, expressionistic,
and high tech, it features hundreds of costumed performers
cavorting on extravagant stage-sets that defy belief.
My
favorite part was the show’s surrealistic second act, “The
Butterfly Fond of Flowers,” which I thought couldn’t be
topped until I went to see traditional Yuju Chinese Opera in
ZhengZhou itself — another diverting evening spent in a
mind-boggling world of costumed finery, sumptuous sets, and
idiosyncratic music.
Futuristic
New City
 Taking
a break from tradition, I ventured into the “New City
Zone,” a massive futuristic development that will double
ZhengZhou’s size on completion in 2020. Consisting of two
circles of identical skyscrapers ringing an artificial lake,
the New City is intended to be both a commercial and
residential centre.
Features
include an already finished performing arts centre (it looks
like five gigantic golden eggs), along with a 6-star
pagoda-shaped skyscraper hotel now under construction, and a
convention centre containing a 5,000-seat auditorium.
When
done, fountains rising from the central lake will come alive
in elaborate nightly shows, with jets of water reaching
building height. Movies will be projected onto a screen of
water vapor filling the night sky, producing a cinematic
experience visible kilometres away.
 Mt.
Songshan’s Temples
An
hour from ZhengZhou lies Mt. Songshan, one of China’s five
holiest mountains. Its tumbling scenery of crags, gorges, rope
bridges and temple complexes has attracted visitors since the
local Zhongyne Temple was completed during the Qin Dynasty in
the 2nd Century BC.
Even
more famous is the Shaolin Temple at the mountain’s base,
built 700 years afterwards by Buddhist warrior monks who
founded both the esoteric practices of Zen Buddhism and the
martial arts discipline of Kung Fu. Destroyed many times by
the monk’s opponents during its long history, the temple
complex was only restored to its previous splendour in 1981.
Today,
it continues to house a population of monks who remain devoted
to Buddhism’s study when not putting on hourly displays of
acrobatic prowess and wizardly martial skills for tourists.
Shaolin
Music Ritual
 Many
of the Shaolin monks’ feats (smashing iron bars over their
heads; balancing on spear points; flinging nails through
plates of glass without smashing them) are astonishing to
witness, as is the extravagant “Music Ritual,” a nightly
show put on during the summer.
Although
expensive to see, the epic production is well worth the
admission price: horses, chariots, boats, medieval siege
machines, and hundreds of whirling monks all fill an outdoor
stage to tell traditional battle stories enacted on a lavish
scale — a grand finale to the spectacular sights of
ZhengZhou.
For
More Info on ZhengZhou:
China
National Tourist Office
480 University Ave, Suite 806
Toronto, ON M5G 1V2
Tel: 416-599-6636 or 1-866-599-6636
Official Websites: www.tourismchina-ca.com
and www.cnto.org
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