Henan (Chinese: 河南; pinyin: Hénán; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is 豫 (pinyin: yù), named after Yuzhou Province (豫州 Yù Zhōu), a Han Dynasty province (zhou) that included parts of Henan. The name Henan means "south of the (Yellow) River" (Huang He).
With nearly 100 million people, Henan is the most populous province of China by residency. It borders Hebei to the north, Shandong to the northeast, Anhui to the southeast, Hubei to the south, Shaanxi to the west, and Shanxi to the northwest.
Henan is often called Zhongyuan (中原 zhōngyuán) or Zhongzhou (中州 zhōngzhōu), literally "central plains" or "midland"; this name is also broadly applied to the entire North China Plain. Henan is traditionally regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization.
HISTORY
Northern Henan, along the Yellow River, was the core area of ancient China for at least the first half of Chinese history. The two cities of Luoyang and Kaifeng each served as the capital city of a long list of dynasties.
Archaeological sites reveal that prehistoric cultures such as the Yangshao Culture and Longshan Culture were active in what is now northern Henan. The Erlitou culture, which has been controversially identified with the Xia Dynasty, the first Chinese dynasty as described in Chinese records, was also centered in Henan.
The first literate dynasty of China, the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC), was centered in Henan. Their last capital, Yin, was located at the modern city of Anyang, Henan.
In the 11th century BC, the Zhou Dynasty arrived from the west and destroyed the Shang Dynasty. Their capital was located initially in Hao (near present day Xi'an in Shaanxi province). In 722 BC, it was moved to Luoyang, Henan. This began the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, a period of warfare and rivalry. What is now Henan was divided into a variety of small states, including Hua (destroyed by Qin in 627BC), Chen, Cai, Cao, Zheng, Wei (衛), and powerful Jin from Shanxi to the north. Later on these were replaced with Han and Wei (魏). Throughout this period the state of Chu also held much of what is now southern Henan.
In 221 BC, the state of Qin from what is now Shaanxi completed the unification of China, establishing the first unified Chinese state, the Qin Dynasty. They were followed by the Han Dynasty in 206 BC, which initially put its capital in Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi). The second half of this dynasty (the Eastern Han Dynasty) moved its capital to Luoyang.
The late Eastern Han Dynasty saw war and rivalry between regional warlords. Henan was the power base of Cao Cao, who was based in Xuchang and eventually succeeded in unifying all of northern China under the Kingdom of Wei. Wei then put its capital in Luoyang. The Western Jin Dynasty that followed also put its capital at Luoyang.
In the 4th century, nomadic peoples from the north invaded northern China. Henan then came under the rule of many successive regimes, including the Later Zhao, the Former Yan, the Former Qin, the Later Yan, and the Later Qin. The Northern Wei Dynasty, which unified North China in 439, moved its capital to Luoyang in 493.
Northern Wei splintered in 534 and would not be restored until 589, when the Sui Dynasty reunified China. Sui Emperor Yang's costly attempt to relocate the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang contributed to the downfall of Sui. The Tang Dynasty that followed kept its capital in Chang'an (modern Xi'an, Shaanxi). The Tang lasted for three centuries, but eventually succumbed to internal strife.
In the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms that followed, Kaifeng was the capital of four dynasties: Later Liang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, Later Han Dynasty, and Later Zhou Dynasty. The Song Dynasty that reunified China in 982 also had its capital at Kaifeng. Under Song rule, China entered a golden age of culture and prosperity, and Kaifeng was the largest city in the world. In 1127, however, the Song Dynasty succumbed to Jurchen (Jin Dynasty) invaders from the north, and in 1142 had to cede away all of northern China, including Henan. By this point, cultural and economic development in the Yangtze River delta Jiangnan region (modern southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and Shanghai) had made that area into the new economic and cultural center of China, instead of Henan. Henan would forever lose this pre-eminent position.
Kaifeng served as the Jurchen's "southern capital" from 1157 (other sources say 1161) and was reconstructed during this time.But they kept their main capital further north, until 1214, when they were forced to move the imperial court southwards to Kaifeng in order to flee the Mongol onslaught. In 1234 they succumbed to combined Mongol and Song Dynasty forces. Mongols took control, and in 1279 they conquered all of China.
Mongol rule over China ended in 1368. The Ming Dynasty that followed set up the equivalent of modern Henan province, with borders extremely similar to modern ones. The capital was, however, at Kaifeng instead of modern Zhengzhou. The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) did not make any significant changes to this arrangement; nor did the Republic of China in their rule over Mainland China (1911–1949).
The completion of the Pinghan Railway (Beijing-Hankou) made Zhengzhou, a previously unnoted county town, into a major transportation hub. In 1954, the new People's Republic of China government moved the capital of Henan from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou. The PRC also established a short-lived Pingyuan Province consisting of what is now northern Henan and western Shandong, with capital Xinxiang. This province was abolished in 1952.
In 1958, Yashan in Suiping County, Henan became the first people's commune of China, heralding the beginning of the "Great Leap Forward". In the subsequent famines of the early 1960s popularly attributed to the Great Leap Forward, Henan suffered terribly, with several million lives lost.
In 1975, the collapse of the Banqiao Dam and other dams in southern Henan, following a typhoon that caused extraordinarily high levels of rainfall, is estimated to have killed 230,000 people across several counties. This was the most deadly dam-related catastrophe in human history.
In recent years the prevalence of "blood selling" (blood donation with pay) among poor villagers has put Henan in the spotlight of the nation. It was exposed that AIDS villages, where most of the population is HIV positive, have resulted because of poor sterilization techniques. The initial cover up of the crisis by local officials, followed by the national exposure, has put Henan in a somewhat negative light.
In November 2004, martial law was declared in Zhongmou county, Henan, to quell deadly ethnic clashes between Han Chinese and the Muslim Hui Chinese. The reported number of deaths ranged between 7 and 148.
CULTURE
Most of Henan speaks dialects of the Mandarin group of dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China. Linguists put these dialects into the category of "Zhongyuan Mandarin". The northwestern corner of Henan is an exception, where people speak Jin dialects instead. The dialects of Henan are collectively called "the Henan dialect" in popular usage, with easily identifiable stereotypical features.
Henan opera (Yuju) is the local form of Chinese opera; it is also famous and popular across the rest of China. Henan Quju and Henan Yuediao are also important local opera forms.
Henan cuisine is the local cuisine, with traditions such as the Luoyang Shuixi (Luoyang "Water Table", consisting entirely of various soups, etc.); Xinyang Duncai (Xinyang brewed vegetables), and the traditional cuisine of Kaifeng.
Important traditional art and craft products include: Junci, a type of porcelain originating in Yuzhou noted for its unpredictable colour patterns; the jade carvings of Zhenping; and Luoyang's Tangsancai ("Tang Three Colours"), which are earthenware figurines made in the traditional style of the Tang Dynasty.
CUISINE OF KAIFENG
| Kaifeng was the birthplace of Henan Cuisine, based on the royal cuisine of the Northern Song Dynasty. Henan dishes combine a number of different Chinese cuisine including Sichuan, Beijing and Canton styles of food. Dishes here are characterized by their salty taste and colorful appearance. Unlike Shanghainese cuisine, little oil is used in the preparation of Henan dishes and flour is often the major ingredient; noodles and bread are especially popular.
For snack food, the best area is around the train station and for Fast Food, check out the area south of Gulou Jie. There is a good variety of snack and street food here, although the best dumplings or jiaozi are found in the Diyilou Dumpling Restaurant . The Night Market on Shudianjie is also popular not only for shopping but also for good snack food. |
| Sweet and Sour Carp with Baked Noodles |
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| Four Treasures Wrap |
| Four treasures wrap uses deboned duck, chicken , pigeon and quail, one of each. As the name suggests, the smallest fowl is wrapped by a bigger one until it is finally wrapped by the duck. After the delicate process of preparation, the whole thing is deeply stewed. When served, the dish looks just like a ordinary duck stew, but when guests finish the outmost duck, the chicken is there, after the chicken is the pigeon until there is the quail stuffed with sliced mushroom and ham. This dish was used by Kaifeng cooking masters as a tribute to Empress Cixi at the end of the Qing Dynasty in the late 19th century. |
| Steamed Rib with Bamboo Shoot |
| Steamed Ribs with Bamboo Shoot uses fresh pork rib as its basic material. The meat is boiled to almost 80 percent cooked and then steamed over a strong fire and mixed with sliced bamboo shoots. The scent of bamboo and the richness of the meat are sufficiently infused. After the materials are cooked, the meat is mixed with pure meat soup to complete the dish. Unlike the normal ways of cooking pork in China, this dish is light and refreshing, the meat tastes soft and fragrant. |
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