About Henan Province

Henan (Chinese: 河南; pinyin: Hénán) is located in the central part of China. The name Henan means "south of the (Yellow) River." With nearly 100 million people, Henan is the most populous province of China by residency. Zhengzhou is the province’s capital.

Henan is traditionally regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Northern Henan, along the Yellow River, was the core area of ancient China for at least the first half of Chinese history. The two cities of Luoyang and Kaifeng each served as the capital city of a long list of dynasties. The first literate dynasty of China, the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BCE), was centered in Henan.

Henan is flat in the east and mountainous in the west and extreme south. The eastern and central parts of the province form part of the North China Plain. The Yellow River passes through northern Henan.

Henan has a temperate continental climate, with most rainfall in summer. Temperatures average about 0°C (32ºF) in January, and 27 to 28°C (80 to 82ºF) in July.

Although in absolute terms, Henan's GDP ranks fifth in the country, it is a relatively poor province and given its large population of almost 100 million people, its GDP per capita is only US$2,820.

Most of Henan speaks dialects of the Mandarin group of dialects