Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou Social Welfare Institution
Half the Sky Children's Center #42 opened in April 2009
| Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Program since April 2009 | |
| Little Sisters Preschool Program since April 2009 | |
| Big Sisters Program since April 2009 | |
Family Village Program since April 2009 |
ZHENGZHOU
The capital city of Henan Province, Zhengzhou is located south of the Yellow River in the Central China plain. Zhengzhou’s roots as a transportation and economic center date back to the sixth century when canals connected the city’s grain markets to the Yellow River. Today it is an important railway hub on the Beijing-Guangzhou and Xi’an-Shanghai Rail lines and home to a national grain wholesale market and high-tech science park.
Zhengzhou also played a central role in ancient China as a capital of the Shang Dynasty. Archeologists have uncovered ruins of the ancient Shang capital in downtown Zhengzhou that include house foundations, cellars, water wells, ditches, pottery, ornaments, tools made of bronze, stone, bone, shell, and jade, and a number of burial sites that include sacrificial pits with human and animal remains. In suburban Dashigu near Mangshang Mountain and the Yellow River, archeologists have also found evidence of the first Chinese Dynasty, the Xia (2205 B.C.-1766 B.C.)
Zhengzhou’s pyramid-shaped Henan Provincial Museum, one of the largest museums in China, features over 130,000 pieces of cultural relics, of which 40,000 have been designated national treasures. Of particular interest is a Shang Dynasty era bronze rectangular ding (vessel) decorated with an animal mask motif. A gold tablet (A.D.700), discovered in 1982 in the foothills of the Songshan mountain range by a research student, is carved with a prayer for absolving the sins of the ruthless Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, the only female emperor of China.
The lively night market at Erqi Square in downtown Zhengzhou is a great place to stroll snack, and people watch. For more western entertainment, the Century Amusement Park, less than a half hour southeast of Zhengzhou, features one of the longest roller coasters in China and one of the highest Ferris wheels in Asia as well as a 3,000 meter long railway that surrounds the park.
Day Trips
The Shaolin Monastery, the “most famous temple under heaven” is a two hour drive southwest of Zhengzhou. The Temple, first built in 495 A.D. during the Wei Dynasty, is renowned not only as the birthplace of the Chan sect of Buddhism, but also as a birthplace of Chinese kung fu. As the legend goes, an Indian monk, Boddhidharma created Chan Buddhism and Shaolin boxing (see Bruce Lee’s movie Shaolin for a demonstration) after meditating in a nearby stone cave for nine years. During the early years of the Tang Dynasty, 13 monks schooled in the martial art helped Emperor Li Shimi establish his rule by overcoming a division of the ruling Sui Dynasty's army. One of the colorful murals in the Temple’s Thousand Buddha Hall (Qianfodian) depicts five hundred arhats (Buddhists who have attained enlightenment) engaged in martial arts.
West of the temple is the Pagoda Forest, a cemetery for distinguished monks and abbots who are memorialized by more than 220 pagodas of brick and stone. The pagodas’ varying styles and shapes reflect each monk’s spiritual status. The best time to visit is at sunset when the pagodas are bathed in crimson light, or when orange-robed student monks are practicing kung fu.
Although Shaolin Monastery is better known and more visited, nearby Zhongyue Temple also nestled in the Songshang mountain range half way up Huanggai peak is worth visiting. The huge Taoist temple grounds include 400 structures of various kinds including archways, pavilions, terraces, gates, halls, and towers and more than 300 tall, gnarled and weather-beaten cypresses. Blue-robed monks with hair knotted into a round queue at the back live at the temple where emperors used to make sacrifices to the mountain in the Main Hall, a colorful showplace with red walls and bright orange tiles.
The Yellow River Scenic Area 30 km northwest of Zhengzhou offers wonderful views of the winding Yellow River and Yueshan Mountain as well as green forests and ancient pavilions.
Kaifeng (“Capital of Seven Dynasties”) is a town about 90 minutes east of Zhengzhou where visitors can visit ancient temples and enjoy a slower pace of life. The capital of China during several dynasties, Kaifeng was considered the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127. A small Jewish community that dates back to at least the Southern Song Dynasty (960-1279) was established in Kaifeng and immortalized by Pearl Buck in Peony. Assimilation and a flood that destroyed the town’s synagogue in the 19th century contributed to the community’s demise.
Today Kaifeng attracts families from Zhengzhou who like to spend a pleasant evening at the city’s night market when they dine on local fare including chicken feet, sesame soup and five-spice bread, which, like pita, can be opened and filled with a stuffing one’s choice.
Food
Liyu Sanchi (Three methods of cooking) Cyprinoid is a traditional dish of Zhengzhou. Cyprinoid, a type of carp from the Yellow River, is soaked in fresh water for two or three days prior to cooking to remove the earthy smell. Then the carp is cut into three pieces; one fillet is fried; the other is cooked with sweet and sour Sauce; the rest of the fish (head and tail) are boiled with radish slices to make a tasty and nutritious soup. After enjoying the fish, locals mix noodles with the remaining sweet and sour sauce.
Hulatang (spicy) soup is a common breakfast dish of Henan that dates back to the ancient dynasties of China. There is no record of who first cooked it, but one essential ingredient, pepper, was first brought to China during the Tang Dynasty.