Henan

- Total - Contribution to PRC

167,000 km ² 1.74%

- Total 2010 - Density

94.02 million inhabitants 572 inhabitants / km ²

Henan (Chinese河南, Pinyin Henan, W.-G. Ho -nan, German: Henan / Honan ) is a province in the eastern center of the People's Republic of China. In Henan are the cities of Luoyang and Kaifeng, both of which were the capitals of the Chinese Empire at different times. Henan has 94.02 million inhabitants and was to the last census in 2010 as the most populous province of China. Today Henan ranks third after Guangdong and Shandong. The name composed of hé (河- "river" ) and nán (南- "South" ), means " south of the river " and refers to the Yellow River ( Huang He ).

Geography

In 1954, the capital was moved from the old cultural Kaifeng in the industrial city of Zhengzhou. The province is located on both sides of the Yellow River, which flows through the province on a length of 700 km; However, the largest part south of it. Henan is clearly demarcated by mountains and rivers as natural barriers to the west, northwest and south of the other provinces of China, as it opens in the east to the Great plane, which offers very good conditions for cultivation.

The neighboring provinces are Anhui, Hubei, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Shaanxi. Among the cities in the province in addition to the provincial capital of Zhengzhou include the ancient imperial cities of Kaifeng and Luoyang.

The climate Henan is continental with cold and relatively dry winters and hot, humid summers. Temperatures and precipitation increases from north to south. In heavily Henan is threatened by natural disasters. In the last 2,000 years is reported by nearly 1,000 drought and flood disasters. On the one hand were the various river bed displacements of the Yellow River in its lower reaches effects on agriculture of the province, on the other hand the heavy rains in the summer quickly lead to a rise in water levels in the rivers, which can then burst their banks. The dikes and canals that have taken place since the 1950s, have led to an improvement of protection and thus the conditions for agriculture.

Administrative Divisions

The Henan Province is made up of 17 prefecture-level cities. They are:

• Zhengzhou,
• Kaifeng,
• Luoyang,
• Pingdingshan,
• Jiaozuo,
• Hebi,
• Xinxiang,
• Anyang,
• Puyang,
• Xuchang,
• Luohe,
• Sanmenxia,
• Nanyang,
• Shangqiu,
• Xinyang,
• Zhoukou,
• Zhumadian.

There is also a county-level city, which is directly under the provincial government:

• Jiyuan.

Economy

As before, the Agriculture plays an important role in the overall economy of the province; Henan is the most important breadbasket of central China. Around 82 % of the province's population live in rural areas, only 18% in urban areas.

In terms of economic power (GDP per capita, 1995) was 3,300 yuan in Henan with seventh last place of all Chinese provinces.

Of great importance are the railway lines from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai to Urumqi, which meet in Zhengzhou and where the industrialization concentrated, while in the transport network is less developed rural areas there is still great poverty.

The small town Nanjiecun found by their original collectivism and its economic successes international attention in the reporting.

Chinese police freed on 14 June 2007 claims to have over 200 working slaves from brick kilns in Henan Province; among them there were 29 children. During the three-day raid studied 35,000 officers 7,500 brick kilns in the region and arrested 120 suspects. While striking the slaves were forced to work without pay. Previously, an online petition of approximately 400 fathers had caused quite a stir, which denounced the inaction of the authorities for the abduction of their children.

Culture

The Henan Opera is a well-known form of Chinese opera. In the vicinity of Luoyang are the Longmen Grottoes, which are UNESCO World Heritage since 2000.

Henan is considered as region of origin of Chinese culture and nation. Its inhabitants consider themselves to be descendants of the Yellow Emperor. 19 dynasties had their seat: in Anyang, Luoyang and Kaifeng. Accordingly, Henan not only home to many historical and literary personalities ( Laozi, Zhuangzi, Han Fei, Lü Buwei, Shang Yang, Li Si, Yue Fei, Du Fu, Bai Juyi ... ). With the invasion of the Jurchen and Mongol invasion ended the central function of Henan. The power center was moved to North China and Henan lost its key position.

Tourism

To the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, there is only one real attraction, the Shaolin Monastery. It was 1,500 years ago, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, at the foot of Songshan built mountains, near the Yellow River and is quiet and deserted in the mountains. The former emperor had built in honor of the Indian monk Ba Tuo, as this had good advise him on policy issues. About 20 years later met in the Indian monk Bodhidharma Shaolin (Chinese: Da Mo, Japanese Daruma ) in order to spread his view of Buddhism known as Chan or Zen Buddhism today. He was shocked by the poor physical condition of the Buddhist monks (caused by prolonged sitting in meditation ) and devised a system of exercises to train the body of the monks and get healthy. Xi Sui Jing exercises like ( washing of the cord) and Yi Jin Jing ( transformation of tendons and ligaments ) were the origin of the Shaolin Quan Kung Fu. The Pagoda Forest, talin is, one-half mile southwest of the monastery of Shaolin. It is the cemetery of the monastery with 220 small pagodas containing the ashes of famous monks. The differently shaped pagodas are all to the south, home of Buddha, aligned.