Zhengzhou

Capital of Henan province, China, on the Huang He River; population (2000) 2,501,000. Industries include textile machinery, tractor assembly, light engineering, food and tobacco processing, and the manufacture of chemicals, building materials, and cotton textiles.

An ancient city from the Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BC) has been excavated on the eastern outskirts of Zhengzhou. Shaolin Monastery, the centre of a famous martial arts tradition, lies 80 km/50 mi west of the city.

Zhengzhou stands at the junction of two major railway lines and highways, the north–south route between Beijing and Guangzhou and the east–west route from Jiangsu to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It replaced Kaifeng as provincial capital in 1954.