Yellow River Park

The Yellow River Park is located near Zhengzhou city, about 28km northwest, and is backed by a beautiful mound called the Yue Hill. The park is composed of four parts: Wanglongfeng Scenic Spot where the Water Conservancy Project to divert the Yellow River water to Zhengzhou was built in 1972; Yueshan Temple Scenic Spot where the Zijin Tower and Iron Chain Bridge are found; Luotuo (Camel) Bridge with its 10-meter-tall statue of Emperor Yu the Great and nearby, the Stele Forest of the Yellow River with some 570 pieces inscribed by famous contemporary calligraphers; Hanba Erwangcheng Scenic Spot, which is made up of East and West Guangwu cities, two royal cities built in 203 BC by Liu Bang, first Han emperor and Xiangyu, ruler of the State of Chu when the two pitted their forces against each other there. You may climb to the top of the mountain for a bird's-eye view of the Yellow River, the peak itself is the best place to view the river, as it slows up in the last valley before running into the vast East China plain. The slowing down of the current here has led, over many thousands of years, to the deposition of silt and mud and the rising of the river bed, so that today the river flows at a level much higher that the area around, on built up (some artificially) banks.

The park is also littered with statues and memorials to the heroes and legends of the river region, and it serves as a reminder of the importance of the river as both a nurturer of Chinese civilization, and also its frequent destroyer. At the foot of the hill is a statue of a mother and son that is meant to represent the great mutual affection that the river and the people of China hold. The Yueshan temple is probably the best of the sights here, within which there is a statue of the "Great Yu", the legendary king of ancient China. Most prominent of the statues has to be the 100m tall statue of the emperor's Yan and Huang, who were both believed to be of Henan origin.