The garden was constructed according to the famous scroll painting by Zhang Zeduan, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty—the painting of Market Day During the QingMing Festival is regarded as one of the treasures of the ancient Chinese Arts. This large-scale recreational garden covers an area of 33 hectares, including 8 hectares of lakes with 50 ancient boats and ships and over 400 rooms decorated in the Song Dynasty style, which is the largest collection of Song buildings in the central plain.

The huge painting——The Market Day During the QingMing Festival, vividly portrays the prosperous scene of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, the present Kaifeng. There are numerous buildings like the city gate, the Rainbow Bridge, streets, markets and shops, docks and wharfs. The painting is now kept in the Forbidden City Museum of Beijing.

In the garden, you can boat in the Bian River, stroll along the stone paths, pass through the winding bridges and streets, climb the city walls and enjoy the folk acrobatics, such as shadow play and cock-fighting… all of this will make you feel that you are lost in a dream and striding through time back to the Song Dynasty, more than one thousand years ago.

There are many sites to see in the garden including the winding Bian River which reflects the scenes of the banks on which stand numerous ancient buildings. Outside the city, you can overlook water flowing under bridges; inside, you can see pavilions and buildings in the misty rain as well as farmers' houses, wine shops, teahouses and pawnshops. The streets are crowded with peddlers and performing acrobatics or people having a leisurely drink in the prosperous capital city.

As a living historical culture park, it embodies the features of past time and leads one to appreciation, knowledge, participation and amusement.

As a historical and cultural tour spot, there are science and technology museums, celebrities, Jewish culture and the Memorial Hall for Zhang Zeduan. You can watch many local operas adapted from historical stories from the Song Dynasty, as well as the great evening performance, Dongjing's Dream, which enables you to appreciate the beauty of the art and culture of the Song Dynasty that is presented in its dancing, music and fashion.

As a scenic spot for folk-custom tours, Chinese authorities have done a lot to preserve folk handcrafts and folk customs. You can see the process of making handicrafts, such as Bian embroidery, paintings for new years, enamel wares, tea ceremony, spinning and weaving, figures made from flour and sugar and folk-custom performances, such as acrobatics, folk arts and performances of birds, fighting cocks and dogs.

As a scenic spot for leisure tours, you can buy various souvenirs of Song style and traditional local snacks in the garden. You can tour along the 3,800 meters Bian River to enjoy the scenery in the garden with boatmen and trackers dressed in Song style clothing. And the three-star houses of Song style are ideal places for you to have a rest and to experience the Song culture further.

As a scenic spot for amusement tours, it is unique in that tourists are fully allowed to interact with and participate in the living history park, thus ensuring their enjoyment while visiting the garden. Here, you are not only a visitor, but an actor. For example, you can act as Mr. Right in the competition for marrying Mr. Wang's beautiful daughter and have the opportunity to enjoy the traditional wedding festivities. And you can be the No.1 Scholar in the imperial examination to bring honor to your ancestors. There is a large amusement hall built in the Song style, where many amusement activities are held, including swings, balance beams and many other amusements.

As an ecological scenic spot, this garden was built and forested according to the Market Day During the QingMing Festival. The whole garden combines natural beauty with historical flavor, thus forming a favorable place to have a true rest and evoke your full energy both physically and spiritually.

In the northeast of Kaifeng City, the Iron Pagoda stands tall and erect. As a shining pearl representing the culture of the central plain, this Tower is world-renowned for its superb and exquisite architectural art and design. The Iron Pagoda, also called “Kaibao Pagoda”, was first built in the 1st year of the Huangyou Emperor, in the Northern Song Dynasty (1049 A.D.) and has a history of more than 900 years. As the Pagoda is made of glazed bricks and tiles in brown, it looks quite similar to iron from a distance; and hence acquired its present name, the Iron Pagoda.

The Pagoda is a 13-story octagon with a height of 55.88 meters. The width of the base is 4.16 meters. The upper floors gradually decrease in size until reaching the top floor. The surface of the Pagoda is covered in over 50 different design patterns including Feitian (literally meaning flying to the heavens, but is a representative of a flying sprit), Qilin (a kind of unicorn animal in legend), Buddhas, dancers, lions and so on. Therefore, the Pagoda is considered as, the masterpiece of brick inscription from the Song Dynasty. Besides its exquisite workmanship, the Pagoda is also famous for its being stable, this has allowed it to survive earthquakes, floods and storms.

According to the records, the original Pagoda was a wooden octagon tower with 13 stories, built in the Fubao courtyard of the Kaibao Temple, so it was once called “Fubao Pagoda”. Usually, Pagodas are related to Buddhism. In the Pagoda there are enshrined thousands of Buddha and bodhisattva figures; as well as the remains of King Asoka, all of which are preserved in the basement. The original Pagoda leaned to the northwest, which puzzled the people and was considered to be a construction mistake. The designer Yuhao explained that since Kaifeng was situated on an alluvial plain without any mountains or hills, but with the frequent strong wind blowing from the northwest every year, the Pagoda would straighten within a century. Unfortunately, the magnificent wooden Pagoda was struck by lightning in 1055 (or 1049) after its completion in 982 A.D, leaving the forecast a puzzle in people's mind.

After the wooden one burned to the ground, the Iron Pagoda was built with glazed bricks and tiles in brown. To design such a 50 meters tall brick Pagoda was very demanding. As a result, the Pagoda turned out to be a significant achievement in architecture for its earthquake-proof structure, using a pillar in the center to sustain the whole building, which was tightly linked with every external brick and tile in the Pagoda.

The surface of the Pagoda is inlaid with figured bricks in exquisite patterns such as, Feitian, Qilin, Buddhas, dancers, lions and flowers. On the top is a bronze pearl in the shape of a calabash. So from a distance the Pagoda looks like a monk with a hat on. Uniquely, the windows of the Pagoda consist of open and closed designs. There are windows on each floor, but only one open window, and at different directions on each storey. And the so-called closed windows refer to those that are unable to be opened. From the window you have a bird's eye view of the prosperous city and the Yellow river weaving like a ribbon in the distance. This is one of the more famous spots in Bianjing, the former name of Kaifeng.

Legend has it that there was a fountain under the Iron Pagoda connecting Kaifeng City with the remote sea. Once the water came rushing up from that fountain, the whole city would be flooded. So the Pagoda was built to bring the fountain under control. It is really interesting that the Pagoda inclined toward the wind, while its base was to prevent floods. The Pagoda is really a blessing for the city; as the wind and water means “fortune” in Chinese or Fengshui (geomancy).

As the masterpiece of the glazed Pagoda, its magnificent construction with superb and exquisite unparalleled workmanship brings it the title of “No.1 Pagoda under Heaven”. Through nearly one thousand years, this Pagoda has been famous not only for its architectural style, but also for its history. In the Pagoda are enshrined and also actively worshiped the Amita-Buddha, who is the messenger of the Western Paradise. Also enshrined is a white Jade Buddha, which witnesses the friendship between the Buddhism of China and the country of Burma. It is also the place where the imperial examinations were held during the Song Dynasty. In the Minguo period (1911-1949), the general Feng Yuxiang established the He'nan Buddhism School to develop Buddhism in central China. Moreover, this park is also a natural elegant beauty filled with trees and flowers. As the main exhibit site for the chrysanthemum exhibition, the Iron Pagoda Park is special for its potted chrysanthemums, which are famous for their delicate design. Sitting in the south of the national key relics——the Ancient City Wall of Kaifeng, the Iron Pagoda Park is listed among the 100 famous gardens in China.

Kaifeng Fu from the Northern Song Dynasty was made famous in the world, especially for the upright official Lord Bao, who enforced justice and cracked down on evil. Till now, the local opera “Lord Bao Investigating Cases in Kaifeng Fu” is still quite popular. The present buildings sit on the north bank of the east lake of the Bao's Lake, covering an area of more than 4 hectares and a construction area of 13,600 square meters. Surrounded by three lakes and opposite to the Lord Bao's Temple on the west bank of Lord Bao's lake, the spot here is rather magnificent and splendid.

Kaifeng Fu was built with the construction skills and style of the Northern Song Dynasty. In its central axis stands the Main Hall, the Conference Hall, the Meihua Hall; along with more than 50 palaces and halls such as, the Tianqing Temple, the Mingli Courtyard (the place to show one's courtesy), Qianlong Courtyard, Qingxin Building, Yingwu building, the Yanbin Hall and the prison. As a theme park, it appeals to people from all walks of life by way of representing history through exhibits and live performances. So in this Park, you will have the opportunity to see the opening ceremony of the Yamun (judicial tribunal), the judging process of Lord Bao, the welcome ceremony in the martial yard, as well as acrobatics and entertainers who can blow fire or perform mask changing tricks. It is the best place to learn about the culture of the Song Dynasty and the integrity of the Lord Bao.