Dr. Mark Nan Tu

Henan Provincial Musume

An exhibition in the Bronze Display Hall

Henan province is situated in the middle of the Yellow River. Its ancient name is Zhongzhou, which in Chinese, means central region. If one looks at the map of China, it is obvious that Henan is located in the center of China. Thus, Henan is one of the important areas for the rise of the Chinese early civilization. Because of this, exhibitions in the Henan Provincial Museum are mostly related to the ancient history and culture of the Henan region, including objects, historical traces, ancient architecture, archaeological discoveries and arts and crafts.

There is no entrance fee. One needs to show the ID card to get a free entrance ticket. The main exhibition hall is located in a pyramid shaped building. There are three exhibition floors. One can walk the Chinese civilization by following the exhibition hall number 1 to 8. Each exhibition hall displays the artifacts of a certain state in the history. No flash photography is allowed.

I have been to many museums in China, such as Hunan, Hubei and Nanjing and a few others. I personally feel that the Henan Provincial Museum is among the top museums in China. The museum is well organized by chronological order. It is very easy to follow. The displayed artifacts are many and rare. Visitors to Zhengzhou can also take in the Henan Provincial Museum. Housed now in a new building opened in 1998, the museum holds a large number of pieces from the Shang site, the Dahe Primitive Village, and other province historical sites. The Jade Hall and the Bronze Hall are both of special interest.

If you’re looking for China as it was, the China of prehistory, Henan Province is a place you must visit.

An exhibition in the Jade Display Hall

Returning from a trip to Kaifeng, I asked the hotel front desk for suggestions on activities at night. They all suggested that I took a look at the Zhengdong New District, or Zhengzhou

One of the highlight for my Zhengzhou visit is the Chinese Classical Music Show in Henan provincial museum. There is no entrance fee for the Henan provincial museum. But there is a limited amount of visitors allowed each day. When I arrived at the entrance on July 2nd, Wednesday, there was hardly anybody in the waiting line. I picked up my entrance ticket by showing my ID card. I also brought the 40RMB Chinese Classical Music Show ticket.

The Chinese Classical Music Show is performed in a separate building. I arrived at the performance hall minutes before the show starting time: 10:50am. To my surprise, there is no other audience. I was the only person in the hall until the starting time. The performance was delayed a few minutes until the other 4 audience arrived.

The show featured Chinese classical music instruments dated back to 8000 years ago. The performers all dressed in Chinese traditional costume. The performance was truly engaging. There was time when the performer sang the song with classical poem as lyric. It was a unforgettable experience especially taking into account that I was sitting in the middle of the first row, the seat usually reserved for the most importance VIP.

A surely visited spot in Kaifeng is the Iron Tower. The Kaifeng Iron Tower is not made from Iron, but with glazed bricks. It

Shaolin temple is perhaps the most famous temple in China. It was made famous by a 1980s Chinese movie with the identical name. The temple is famous for its Shaolin Gongfu. I came to visit the Shaolin temple in the late 80s. The Shaolin temple was very small at the time. Most of the historical sites were in the original u restored stages. The two sites that I remembered most were:
1: The pagoda forest
2: The temple with the monks

Our tour bus left Longmen Grotto and headed for the White Horse Temple. In Luoyang, there were two famous temples. The first is the Shaoling Temple which made famous in the 1980s by the Shaoling Gongfu movie. The other is the White Horse Temple which is less known to the public but with more historical significance in the Chinese history.
The white horse temple was built in the late Hang dynasty, 68AD. It was said that the temple is the