Henan Province << huh nahn >> is a major agricultural province in north-central China. Its name is sometimes spelled Honan. The province has an area of about 64,500 square miles (167,000 square kilometers). The capital of the province is Zhengzhou.
Much of Henan lies on the North China Plain. The plain is a flat, fertile region created by the frequent flooding of the Huang He (Yellow River). The Huang He flows through the northern part of the province. The western part of Henan is mountainous. The province is sometimes called the “breadbasket” of China. It is a leading producer of wheat and cotton. Henan is also famous for its wine grapes.
Henan has a long and rich history. Zhengzhou ranks as one of the oldest cities in China. Excavations at Zhengzhou have uncovered objects from the Shang dynasty (1766-1045 B.C.). Three other cities in Henan—Anyang, Luoyang, and Kaifeng—were ancient capitals of China. Anyang was once the capital of the Shang dynasty. Luoyang was the center of government of the Eastern Zhou dynasty from 771 to 256 B.C. Kaifeng served as China’s capital during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (A.D. 907-960) and the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127).
By about the 1500’s, Buddhist monks at the Shaolin monastery in Henan had developed a distinctive style of self-defense and fighting. Their techniques developed into a martial art called Shaolin kung fu.
In 1958, the Weixing (Sputnik) commune in Henan became probably the first people’s commune in China. It was a farming community in which the workers owned the land, tools, and work animals in common. The establishment of people’s communes marked the beginning of the Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government’s plan to accelerate economic development. The plan failed disastrously, leading to millions of deaths from starvation. China abandoned the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960’s.
