{"id":12497,"date":"2016-09-01T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=12497"},"modified":"2016-08-22T21:08:43","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T01:08:43","slug":"better-know-a-province-henan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/better-know-a-province-henan\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Know a Province… Henan"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re continuing on our long journey across China, one province at a time. Today, we head to the central part of the country to visit one of the most historical provinces –\u00a0Henan<\/strong> (\u6cb3\u5357 – h\u00e9 n\u00e1n). Once home to ancient capitals and great dynasties, this province is rich in history and culture and is a fascinating place to explore.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n
\"Oracle<\/a>

Oracle Bones at Yinxiu. Image by Xuan Che from flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Henan is known as the cradle of Chinese civilization. The one-character abbreviation for Henan is\u00a0\u8c6b (y\u00f9), named after Yuzhou<\/strong> (\u8c6b\u5dde – y\u00f9 zh\u014du). This was a Han Dynasty state that included parts of modern day Henan. The remains of some of the earliest human settlements have been discovered here, such as the Yangshao Culture<\/strong> (\u4ef0\u97f6\u6587\u5316 – y\u01ceng sh\u00e1o w\u00e9n hu\u00e0) dating back to 5000-3000 BC. This area was also home to the Xia Dynasty<\/strong> (\u590f\u671d – xi\u00e0 ch\u00e1o), the first in traditional Chinese history. Henan would remain the cultural, political, and economical center of China for many years. Many dynasties had their capital here. In fact, Henan is home to four of the Eight Great Ancient Capitals of China –\u00a0Luoyang, Anyang, Kaifeng, and Zhengzhou. During the Shang Dynasty, the capital (then called Yin) was located in present day Anyang. This is where Chinese writing was created, as evidenced by the discovery of oracle bones<\/strong> (\u7532\u9aa8 – ji\u01ce g\u01d4), which provided important history on the Shang Dynasty and eventually led to the Chinese script.<\/p>\n