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| Kaifeng |
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Kaifeng located on the alluvial plains on the middle and lower reaches
of the Huanghe River, Kaifeng, a key tourism city along the banks
of the river, is under the direct jurisdiction of the Henan Provincial
Government. It is 70 kilometers from Zhengzhou, the provincial seat
in the west, with the Huanghe River in the north and the Huanghuai
Plain in the south. Administrating five counties and five regions,
Kaifeng covers an area of 6,444 square kilometers in total. The population
is 4.3 million, among whom 700,000 live in urban areas.
- 3000 years of history in Kaifeng
The city of Kaifeng has an illustrious and in some ways unique 3000-year
history. Many of the city's treasures are enclosed by the Old City
Walls. The city was a major center of the development of Chinese
civilization and culture. It served for a time as capital of the
Wei Dynasty, the Liang, the Han, the Zhou and as a capital during
the Five Dynasties period of disunion (907-960 AD, after the collapse
of the Tang Dynasty), the Northern Song, and the Jin Dynasty. In
all, Kaifeng was the capital of China for parts of seven different
dynastic periods. And during the 11th Century it was the largest
single city in the world.
Kaifeng has a history of 2,600 years, culminating in a 168-year
reign that spanned the magnificent Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127
AD). The artistic account of Kaifeng's splendor is borne out by
a wonder of painting by Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song, "Going
Up the River at the Qing Ming Festival". It is now in the Palace
Museum collection in Beijing.
Kaifeng's history was also a history of flooding. Between 1194
and 1948, there are 120 recorded Yellow River floods due to dike
breaking. The two worst floods were both caused by men. One in 1642
when Ming forces destroyed an embankment and completely inundated
the city killing 372,000 people. The other was caused by the Nationalists
in order to stop the Japanese's advancement, killing 840,000 people.
Years of building and adding to the river bed has raised the river
10 meters higher than ground level. |
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