Kaifeng

Kaifeng is one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China

One of the ancient capitals of China, Kaifeng sits south of the Huang He (Yellow River), to which it is linked by the Grand Canal. Its most famous monument is the Iron Pagoda (Tie Ta), which is in fact built of bricks and covered with glazed brown tiles.

It was built in 1049 and has survived remarkably well. Po Ta is a six-sided pagoda, covered in tiles with images of the Buddha. It dates back to the Ming Dynasty. The Shanshangan Huiguan is an ornately decorated guildhall, built in the 18th century with stone carvings, brickwork and woodwork.



The Da Xiangguo Si is among China's most famous Buddhist shrines and is best known for its statue of Avalokitesvara. Longting Gongyuan (Dragon Pavilion Park) sits on the site of the former Imperial palaces. It has two beautiful lakes and a pavilion which dates back to the late 17th century.

The attraction destined to put Kaifeng on the tourist map is the Qingming Shanghe Yuan. It is based on a scroll in the Forbidden City in Beijing that depicts Kaifeng in the 12th century and is full of reconstructions of bridges, shops, restaurants and other buildings. Dancers and musicians perfrom rituals of that era and there are also embroidery demonstrations.

Another well-known sight was the astronomical clock tower of the engineer, scientist, and statesman Su Song (1020-1101 AD). It was crowned with a rotating armillary sphere that was hydraulic-powered (i.e. by waterwheel and clepsydra clock), yet it incorporated an escapement mechanism two hundred years before they were found in clockworks of Europe, and featured the first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.