Location
In northeastern China, about 600 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing and the same distance northwest of Shanghai.
Population
87,630,000 (1992 estimate). Henan is the second most populous province in China. Almost all of the people of Henan are of the Han Chinese ethnic majority, with some members of the Hui, Mongol, and Manchu minorities also present. Jews from India or Persia were important in the province from the 12th century on, but were absorbed into the Han Chinese majority by the 19th century.
Description
Henan is divided between hills and mountains in the west and low-lying plains in the east. The plains are mostly deposits of loess soil carried down from western China by the Yellow River (Huang He).
History
Henan is considered to be one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, with evidence of farming dating back as far as the neolithic (late stone age) period, around 3000-1500 BC.
Language
Almost all of the native inhabitants of Henan speak dialects of Northern Mandarin Chinese .
Culture
Henan has a distinctive operatic form called Yu Ju Opera .
Famous people born in Henan Province include:
- Hui Shi (380 BC - ?), philosopher.
- Yuan Ji (210-263), poet.
- Du Fu (712-770), considered considered the greatest Chinese poet of all time.
- Han Yu, (768-824), prose writer, poet, and proponent of New-Confucianism.
- Li Shangyin (813-858), poet.
- Cheng Hao (1032-1085) and brother Cheng Yi (1033-1107), Neo-Confucian philosophers.
- Li Tang (c.1080-c.1130), painter.
- Feng Youlan (1895-1990), philosopher.
Information offered by My Hometown |
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