Anyang
Yin Xu (Archaeological Ruins of Yin Xu)
The late Shang capital whose royal questions survive on turtle plastrons and ox scapulae, presented today in a new riverside museum.
Henan, from the ground up
Henan.
A bone, a cliff, a bowl of tea
An oracle bone in Anyang, a carved cliff beside Luoyang's Yi River, a kiln in Shenhou: small things open onto very different parts of Henan. Follow water through the Taihang mountains and north from Danjiangkou, then turn south to Xinyang's tea hills and village courtyards.
Luoyang
Longmen Grottoes
Across the Yi River, Longmen's figures belong to a whole cliff. Move closer and the rock becomes a record of carving, belief and changing scale.
Explore this placeThree different ways in
Begin with a Shang capital, a porcelain town or a southern mountain retreat.
Xuchang
Jun Ware and the Kiln Town of Shenhou
A seven-li street of Jun-ware shops in a mountain basin, with the workshops open to visitors.
Xinyang
Mount Jigong
A granite peak of 768 metres whose summer colony of villas was begun by an American missionary in 1902 and still numbers in the hundreds.
Follow a thread
Read across places through objects, working water, craft and food. Each thread opens into independent stories.
What a city leaves below ground
Questions on bones, a street grid, named bronzes and buried walls offer different ways to read an ancient city.
The Questions on the Bones: Reading a Shang Capital at Anyang
Oracle bones bring the questions of a Shang court into the museum. Read the marks, then look back toward the city that produced them.
Erlitou: City Roads and the Turquoise Dragon
Roads and a turquoise dragon reveal two scales of Erlitou: the layout of a city and the detail of an object.
Named Bells and Chariot Wheels: The Guo State Tombs
Names cast into bronzes and traces of chariots lead into the burial ground of the Guo state.
The City Under the City
Begin at Shangqiu’s Ming walls, then read the earlier cities buried below the streets.
Making room in stone
Compare a cliff of Buddhist images, Shaolin's tomb pagodas and a hillside temple whose buildings follow the ground.
Under the Fengxian Cliff: Reading Longmen from the Other Bank
Cross the Yi River to compare the scale of Longmen’s cliff and its carved figures, from the whole landscape to a single niche.
Counting Pagodas at Shaolin, and the Gate That Outlived the Monastery
Shaolin’s tomb pagodas carry inscriptions and different forms. They open a quieter history beside the monastery.
A Temple Without an Axis
At Fengxue Temple near Ruzhou, the buildings follow the hillside. Read the ground as well as the halls.
Keeping water moving
A canal cut into Taihang rock, the Taocha headworks and Nanwan's reservoir reveal different kinds of work behind a water landscape.
Keeping the Water Moving: The Red Flag Canal at Linzhou
The Red Flag Canal is a channel cut through Taihang rock and a continuing task of inspection and maintenance.
One Screen, Some Drones and the People Who Watch the Water
At Taocha, reservoir water begins its journey north. Gates, monitoring and water protection belong to the same working landscape.
Sixty-One Islands
Nanwan is a reservoir as well as a lake landscape. Follow its dam and wooded shores to see how those identities meet.
Colour made by hand
A woodblock carries pigment; a kiln transforms glaze. Follow the different materials and skills behind New Year prints, Jun ware and Ru ware.
Choosing the Block, Boiling the Pigment: a Day With Zhu Xian Zhen Printmakers
Choosing wood, carving blocks and preparing colours give Zhuxianzhen’s New Year prints their material life.
Seven Li of Flagstones, and the Hands That Turn the Clay
Shenhou’s streets lead into the world of Jun porcelain: clay, glaze and the changes brought by firing.
One Bowl, One Vessel
Ru ware connects a glazed surface with the supports used in firing and the traces left at kiln sites.
Four ways to begin a meal
Pull noodles in Zhengzhou, follow Luoyang's sequence of soups, open a Kaifeng dumpling and meet Daokou chicken's old broth.
White Broth, Pulled by Hand
Hands stretch the noodles; lamb broth gathers the bowl together. Zhengzhou huimian begins with those two actions.
Twenty-Four Dishes, One Current
Cold plates open Luoyang’s water banquet, soup dishes follow in sequence, and egg soup signals the close.
Lantern, Chrysanthemum, Soup
A Kaifeng soup dumpling is lifted like a lantern and set down like a chrysanthemum. Open its skin to meet the broth inside.
Eight Spices and an Old Broth
An ingot-like shape and an old broth give Daokou chicken its appearance and texture.
Henan turns south
Xinyang brings a different rhythm: mountain summer houses, Maojian tea slopes, rice fields and the courtyards of Haotang.
The Hill That Was Built for Summer
Jigongshan’s mountain villas preserve a history of summer retreat. Read their different buildings against the hill landscape.
Tea Hills and a Cup of Xinyang Maojian
Follow Xinyang Maojian from the names of its tea hills to the gestures of showing leaves and preparing a cup.
Courtyards, Rice and a Wall of Sayings
Courtyards, craft workshops, shadow puppets and rice fields offer different ways into village life at Haotang.
Eleven cities, more stories
Choose a city to continue through its places and complete article collection.
Zhengzhou
Trace Shang city walls in the modern city, then turn toward the slopes of Songshan.
All articlesLuoyang
Follow the Yi River past Longmen’s carved cliffs and Luoyang’s monastery compounds.
All articlesKaifeng
Song-capital memories take new forms in today’s streets, while Zhuxianzhen’s woodblocks keep an older print tradition in view.
All articlesAnyang
Oracle-bone questions meet the engineering story of the canal cut through the Taihang foothills at Linzhou.
All articlesJiaozuo
Red-rock gorges meet the living practice of boxing in Wenxian.
All articlesSanmenxia
Read the Yellow River’s old passes alongside the tombs and chariot finds of the Guo state.
All articlesNanyang
In the Nanyang Basin, the old prefectural office and the Taocha headworks mark different ways of shaping public life and water.
All articlesXuchang
Shenhou’s Jun porcelain kilns sit alongside the street-level memory of Cao Wei in Xuchang.
All articlesShangqiu
The Ming city wall encloses a landscape layered over earlier settlements, with hill-cut tombs nearby.
All articlesPingdingshan
Ruzhou’s Ruci ware, Yexian’s county yamen and local storytelling open three distinct views of the region.
All articlesXinyang
Tea-covered slopes, Nanwan Reservoir, rice-field courtyards and mountain villas reveal southern Henan’s varied landscapes.
All articlesPhoto credits and rights
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Longmen Grottoes, Luoyangxiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Display and thumbnail images resized and converted to WebP.
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The exterior of the Yin Xu Museum in Anyang.Tim Wu · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Display and thumbnail images resized and converted to WebP.
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Jun Ware and the Kiln Town of Shenhou, XuchangWindmemories · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Display and thumbnail images resized and converted to WebP.
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Mount Jigong, Xinyang: the site from outsideGary Lee Todd, Ph.D. · CC0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Display and thumbnail images resized and converted to WebP.