Henan Museum, Shaolin Temple in Songshan

1. Henan Museum Henan Museum, located at No. 8 Agriculture Road, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China, was initially established in July 1927 at the former site of the Law and Political School on Xijie Street, Kaifeng Court, marking the beginning of Henan Museum. In 1961, the Henan Provincial Museum was relocated from Kaifeng to the provincial capital Zhengzhou, where the Henan Exhibition Hall at Zijingshan was handed over to the historically rich Henan Museum. In July 1997, the Central Plains Stone Carving Art Museum merged with the Henan Provincial Museum to form the Henan Museum. In 1998, the Henan Provincial Museum moved from Renmin Road in Zhengzhou to Agriculture Road in Zhengzhou and was renamed "Henan Museum"; on May 1 of the same year, the new Henan Museum was completed and opened to the public. Henan Museum covers an area of more than 100,000 square meters, with a building area of 78,000 square meters. As of January 2022, Henan Museum has a collection of more than 170,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, especially featuring prehistoric artifacts, bronze ware from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, ceramics, jade, and stone carvings from various dynasties. The museum boasts a large number of high-quality cultural relics, diverse categories, high grade, and great value, making it a cultural and artistic treasure trove that witnesses the development trajectory of Chinese civilization and showcases the historical development context of China. Many of these artifacts come from archaeological excavations in the early 20th century in places such as Shangqiu, Luoyang, Anyang, Kaifeng, Xichuan, Sanmenxia, Huixian, and Xinzheng. Among them, prehistoric artifacts, bronze ware from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, ceramics, and jade are the most distinctive. The museum houses more than 5,000 national first-class and second-class cultural relics, with extremely high historical and cultural artistic value, and some of the collections are regarded as national treasures. On May 18, 2008, Henan Museum was announced by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage as the first batch of national first-class museums. In 2022, the new site of Henan Museum is planned to be located near Xianghu Lake in Zhengzhou. On December 7, 2022, Henan Museum reopened to the public. 2. Shaolin Temple in Songshan Shaolin Temple, located in Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, is within the Songshan Scenic Area, which includes three scenic spots, and the "management" authority of Shaolin Temple is limited to within its mountain gate. It was built in the 19th year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (495 AD) by Emperor Xiaowen to accommodate the Indian monk Batuo for teaching, and it was named "Shaolin Temple" because it is situated in the dense forest of Shaoshi Mountain in the heart of Songshan. The permanent residence of Shaolin Temple covers an area of about 57,600 square meters, and the current abbot is Shi Yongxin, the 47th generation and 33rd generation successor of the Caodong sect. Shaolin Temple is not only the birthplace of Zen Buddhism but also the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu, known as the "ancestral court of Zen Buddhism and the holy land of Kung Fu," and is reputed as the "No. 1 Temple under Heaven." It is famous worldwide for the Shaolin Kung Fu developed and continuously improved by generations of Shaolin warrior monks, with the saying "All Kung Fu under Heaven originates from Shaolin, and Shaolin Kung Fu is the best in the world." It is a World Cultural Heritage site, a national key cultural relic protection unit, and a national 5A-level tourist attraction. In August 2010, the historical architectural complex of "The Center of Heaven and Earth," including the permanent residence of Shaolin Temple, the First Patriarch's Monastery, and the Pagoda Forest, was listed as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.