Henan

• The Longmen Grottoes, a treasure house of stone carving art with more than 97,000 Buddha statues.
• White Horse Temple, the first ancient temple in China, with most of the historical sites left by the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
• Mt. Song, a holy place for Quanzhen school of Taoist.
• Shaolin Temple, a prestigious Buddha temple in China and the birthplace of Shaolin martial arts.

Henan is an important birthplace of Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. The first ancestor of Chinese nation, Huangdi, was born in Xinzheng, Henan Province. The origin of Chinese civilization, the invention of writing, the formation of cities and the establishment of a unified country are all closely related to Henan.

In the 5000-year history of Chinese civilization, Henan has been the country’s political, economic and cultural center fro more than 3,000 years, with more than 20 dynasties establishing their capitals here and more than 200 emperors ruling here.

The word “Yu” stands for peace and happiness in the earliest Chinese dictionary. In ancient times when King Yu tamed the flood, he divided the land of ancient China into nine states, which divided the scope of today’s Henan Province into Yuzhou, and this name has been passed down to today, becoming the abbreviation of Henan Province.

In fact, Shaolin Kung Fu really became famous throughout the world in 1982, a movie starring Jet Li, “Shaolin Temple”, in which the display of real Shaolin Kung Fu brought fire to the Shaolin Temple.

The Luoyang Peony Festival is generally held between mid-April and mid-May each year, and the time will be adjusted according to the climate of the year and the blooming of the peony flowers.

1. Wangcheng Park: It covers an area of about 1,000 acres at the site of the Eastern Zhou Wangcheng in the center of Luoyang, is the main exhibition park for the Luoyang Peony Festival. There are 100,000 peonies and many valuable peonies.
2. National Peony Park: It is the largest peony viewing place in Luoyang with the most varieties of peonies. It is most famous for having a peony king, which is 3 meters high and has a history of a thousand years.
3. Sui and Tang Dynasty Town Botanic Gardens: It is one of the younger parks in the Luoyang Peony Show, covering roughly 2,800 acres, besides peonies, there are some other flowers and plants in it. And you can also experience the architectural style of Sui and Tang dynasties there.