Mount Songshan

Driving southwestward from Zhengzhou for an hour and a half will bring you to Mount Songshan . Its peak, towering 1,550 meters above sea level, is the highest of the twenty-two peaks of the Funiu Range .

Songshan rises from the Central China Plain; being the middle-most of the five sacred mountains of China , it is sometimes also called Central Mountain . It contains scenic spots and places of historical interest, of which Shaolin Monastery, the Songyang School of Classical Learning, the Han Imperial Palaces , Star Observatory Terrace (Guanxingtai), and Stone Streams-Confluence (Shizonghuiyin) are the best known.

Shaolin Monastery

The monastery at the foot of Wuru Peak on the northern slope of Shaoshi Mountain was originally built in 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). It is known as the "most famous temple under heaven" for it was here that, in 527, the Indian monk Bodhi Dharma (or Dharma) founded the Chan sect of Buddhism in China . Since Dharma was regarded as the ancestor of the Chan sect, the Shaolin Monastery was called Zuting - the Ancestor's Home. The existing buildings today date mostly from the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 -1 911) dynasties.

The temple occupies an area of thirty thousand square meters. Its principal building, Thousand Buddha Hall (Qianfodian), contains colorful murals, one of which, depicting five hundred arhats engaged in martial arts, is said to have been painted by the great painter Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

During the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the monks in Shaolin Monastery helped Emperor Tai Zong, Li Shimin, to establish his rule in China . They practiced a style of martial art that took its name from the temple - the famous Shaolin Boxing.

Pagoda Forest

To the west of Shaolin Monastery is the cemetery where the monks of the monastery were buried. More than 220 memorial pagodas of brick and stone, in various styles and shapes, were built here from the Tang to the Qing dynasties. These pagodas are valuable relics for the study of China 's ancient brick and stone architecture and sculpture.

Central Mountain Temple (Zhongyuemiao)

At the foot of Mount Huanggai , occupying an area of 100,000 square meters, this temple was originally built during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.). The architectural style of its central hall is very similar to that of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing 's Forbidden City . The temple houses four large iron statues supposed to be guardians. They were cast in the Song Dynasty. The three hundred-odd cypress trees in the temple compound have lived more than a thousand years. The grand Central Mountain Hall, with its scarlet walls and golden tiles, stands in the midst of many other palaces, chambers, pavilions, and corridors.

Songyang School of Classical Learning

One of the four most famous ancient schools of classical learning in China is located to the south of Central Mountain Temple . The simple buildings house many historical relics. In the courtyard, there are two cypress trees more than 1,900 years old; their trunks are so thick that five people with arms fully extended can barely form a ring around them. It is said that these trees were named "cypress generals" by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 220).

Henan Provincial Museum of History

This museum in downtown Zhengzhou displays over a thousand cultural relics from Henan Province , together with photographic exhibits. In the exhibition hall, there is a miniature representation of an ancient city, believed to be 3,500 years old, whose ruins were unearthed in Zhengzhou in 1955. It presents a vivid picture of our ancestors smelting metals, making pottery, and polishing bone tools during the Bronze Culture of the Shang Dynasty.

Ruins at Dahe Village

In the autumn of 1964, a site of 300,000 square meters representing the Yangshan and Longshan cultures of the Neolithic Period was discovered at Dahe Village in the northern suburbs of Zhengzhou. The ruins of house foundations, dating back five thousand years, show separate inner and outer rooms - indicating that group marriage probably no longer existed and that families in which young couples lived separately from their parents had appeared.

Ruins of an Ancient City of the Shang Dynasty

These ruins cover an area of twenty-five square kilometers in downtown Zhengzhou . In 1955, a city wall of seven kilometers was discovered on the site. Archaeologists have found ruins of house foundations, cellars, water wells, ditches, and graves. Ornaments and tools made of bronze, stone, bone, shell, and jade were found on the site, as well as pottery and primitive china. Outside the walls, the ruins of various workshops were discovered, among which were foundries for smelting bronze and workshops for making pottery. These archaeological finds in Zhengzhou provide valuable materials for the study of Shang Dynasty society, particularly with regard to the formation and development of ancient cities in China .

Ancient Tomb at Dahu Pavilion

One of the largest graves of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 220) can be found in suburban Zhengzhou . It is a brick and stone structure in the shape of a covered boat.   The walls and ceilings of the grave chambers are covered with paintings and stone carvings that reflect the life of the deceased. Depicting such scenes as rent collection, cooking and dining, hunting, traveling in carts and on horseback, and revelry, they provide valuable data for historical research into the politics, culture, and economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

February 7 Memorial Towers

These twin towers, sixty-three meters high, stand in the center of the city. They were built in memory of a railway worker's strike that started in Zhengzhou on February 4, 1923 , and spread to the entire Beijing-Hankou line. On February 7, Wu Peifu, a warlord, ordered his soldiers to fire on the strikers, killing several Chinese Communist Party members and trade union leaders.

Rooster Mountain (Jigongshan)

Located at the Wusheng Pass on the border of Hubei and Henan provinces, the highest peak of Jigong Mountain rises 784 meters above sea level and has the shape of a crouching rooster facing south, from which it got the name Baoxiaofeng-Crowing Rooster Peak. There are many scenic spots on the mountain, including the Ladder to Heaven (Tianti), and the Lotus Pavilion (Hehuating).