As a specialized museum oriented to collect, display and study stone carvings of the Han Dynasty, the Nanyang Art Gallery of Han Dynasty Stone Carvings is the earliest founded museum in history that features the most collectibles and the largest exhibition space.

Built in October, 1935, it was located in the former Nanyang People's Education Center. A total of 118 image stones are in the collection of the museum.

After the founding of PRC in 1949, numerous image stones were discovered and collected and the museum was relocated in the Wuhouci Historic Area. The new exhibition hall is expanded to over 900m2 and there is a collection of more than 500 image stones.

In the middle of 1970s, the number rose sharply to over 1,000. In 1976, another addition was made to the original museum and was completed in 1979. The present exhibition hall has an area of over 1,700m2, featuring 187 finely-selected image stones. Currently the collection has amounted to 1,500.

The gallery, built on December 27th, 1999, is situated on Wolonggang, southwest of Nanyang City. The hillock is rolling at its back and the Baihe Rive is flowing by upfront. On its north is the Temple of Marquis Wu (Wuhou Ci). With its convenient transportation and favorable location, the gallery covers an area of over 5 hectares and the central architecture is the grand Display Building as large as 400 hectares.

At the entrance stand a pair of 11m high, Han-styled towers and a marble wall is right in the middle of the gate, on which it reads Han Hua Guan——Art Gallery of Han Dynasty Stone Carvings. Walking by the green lawns on both sides and into the square, the grand and elegant Display Building in Han style is right before you. Into the exhibition hall, a pair of round carvings is quite eye-catching. Made in the Eastern Han Dynasty, they are expected to bring blessings to humankind. On the west wall there is a large Han-styled sculpture work which mirrors the rich and profound culture of Nanyang.

The layout of the exhibition hall looks like a T. With an area of 2,000m2, there are 11 display halls. The main hall, the Stone Carvings of Han Dynasty is divided into 10 parts, such as the Prologue, Labor, Architecture Art, History, Social Life, Horseback Riding and Hunting, Astronomy and Myths, Wrestling, Dancing, Expelling of Diseases and Becoming Immortals and so on.

In the middle of 1970s, the number rose sharply to over 1,000. In 1976, another addition was made to the original museum and was completed in 1979. The present exhibition hall has an area of over 1,700m2, featuring 187 finely-selected image stones. Currently the collection has amounted to 1,500.

The Marquis Wu Temple, surrounded by pines and cypresses, was built to commemorate Zhuge Liang, a famous statesman and strategist in the Period of Three Kingdoms. Among nine temples preserved around the country, this one in Nanyang ranks only next to the temple in Chengdu. Located in Wolonggang, Nanyang City, it is where Zhuge liang once lived.

Zhuge Liang, also named Kong Ming, was born in the Eastern Han Dynasty. His father died when he was young, then he followed his uncle and finally settled in Nanyang, where Zhuge Liang studied hard on politics, economy, and all the political opinions of different schools. Afterwards, as the adviser of Liu Bei (who became the king of Shu Kingdom later), he contributed enormously to the establishment of Shu Kingdom. As the most renowned statesman and strategist in the period, he commanded in many famous battles such as the Burnings of Bowangpo and the Red Cliffs, Capturing and Releasing Meng Huo (a rebel leader of ethnic group) Seven Times, the Six Expeditions to Qishan and so on. In recognition of his dedication and loyalty, a title of nobility was conferred upon him as “Marquis Wu”. In the Jin Dynasty, the local people in Nanyang built a temple in memory of him on Wolonggang. Long years of war had wrecked it repeatedly. It was not until the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty that the temple was fully restored. In recent years, repairing has been done; the temple has become a well-known tourism destination.

There is a tablet hung up at the gate, which reads Qian Gu Ren Long (literally a great hero in history). Walking up the stairs and through Steles Hall and Fairy Bridge, one may face Dabai Hall, the main architecture in the temple. The statue of Zhege Liang is right in the middle, with his two sons standing on his two sides. Outside the hall are hung all kinds of tablets, couplets and on each wall is inscribed works of men of letters in history. It is really a display of Chinese calligraphy styled by scripts as true, cursive, seal and clerical. Across the hall stands a thatched cottage where Zhuge Liang studied.

Outside the cottage are sights as Gubai Pavilion, Liangfu Rock, Yeyun Hut, Ningyuan Tower, Banyue Terrace, Sangu Hall, Xiaohong Bridge, Laolong Hole and Baoqi Rock, all of which are reputed as “Ten Sights of Wolong”. Among the beautiful places, the statues of Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were made vividly in San'gu Hall and Guanzhang Hall. To enable the tourists to have a better understanding of the life and ambitions of Zhuge Liang, in Ningyuan Tower, a brief account was written about the general political, economical and cultural situations in the Period of Three Kingdoms.

Around the corridors and walls in the temple there are more than 300 steles, numerous tablets and couplets. The inscriptions on them show great skills of carving and calligraphy. The craftsmen carved the works into the wooden tablets, which show great skills. The steles, tablets and couplets in the temple embody ancient literature, calligraphy and painting and have become a great treasure of art to attract tourists all over the world.

Originally constructed in 1304 of the Yuan Dynasty, the remaining architecture was built in the period of Zhang Bingtao——the magistrate during the reign of Emperor Guang Xu of the Qing Dynasty. Covering an area of 20,000m2, there are over 280 halls and rooms. In the museum, 16 exhibition halls and theme-related shows best represent the Yamen (the court in feudal China) Culture. In 1984, the first Yamen museum in the country was built and in 1996 it had become a key national cultural relic protection unit.

The architectures in Neixiang County have a unique style. The general layout strictly follows the local civil service system of the Qing Dynasty, reflecting the traditional ceremonial forms. The whole building is oriented north-south. On the left are rooms for civil officers and on the right for military. In the front are offices and in the back are bedrooms with a prison in the south. Zhang Bingtao, then magistrate from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province contributed to the architectural style of the place, which integrated the essentials across the Changjiang River and took on a solemn and grand look.

There is an old saying that there is the Imperial Palace in the north, and Neixiang County Yamen in the south. The place epitomizes the traditional officialdom culture. As the historical evidence of county Yamens in feudal China, the place is a treasure of culture and history. To better understand the rich Yamen culture, one can participate in a series of activities such as listening to interpretations, appreciating couplets, attending exhibitions, enjoying performances and so on. The plaques and couplets in the Yamen have won great acclaim from people of all walks of life. In 1995, Zhu Rongji, then premier paid a visit to the place and spoke highly of the inscriptions that deal with the dialectical relationship between gain and loss, the government and the public.

In October, 2,000, the Neixiang County Yamen was listed to the International Tourism Route of 4 Chinese Ancient Yamens including the Imperial Palace, the Neixiang County Yamen, the Mansion of Viceroy of Zhili in Baoding, Hebei Province and the Administrative Office of Huozhou County in Shanxi Province.

The Laojie Hill Natural Reserve lies in the north of the Xixia County on the upper section of the southern slope of Mountain Funiu, connecting the Baotianman Natural Reserve of the Neixiang County in the east with the Luanchuan County and Songxian County of Luoyang in the neighborhood.

Founded in 1982 as the largest provincial natural reserve in Nanyang, Laojie Hill was upgraded into one of the national class, the west part belonging to Yanzhen Forestry Centre, the east part belonging to the Huangshi'an Forestry Centre. It is 23 kilometers from west to east and 16.7 kilometers from north to south, covering 15,300 hectares of which 10,000 hectares in Yanzhen and 5,300 hectares in Huangshi'an.

75 kilometers away from the County seat, Laojie Hill Ecotourism Area enjoys a superior transportation with National Highways 311 and 322 going across. It is an ideal land for mountain-climbing and summer-cooling as well as holidays and scientific research, with its total tour area of 12,000 hectares covering 9 scenic areas and over 260 scenic spots.

The dark green sea of dense forests waving into the horizon on undulate mountains, Laojie Hill has distinct beauty in different seasons. The spring here is a competing world of booming flowers and trees. In summer, waterfalls roar as springs running in the green forest. A drift red leaves everywhere “set fire” on all the mountains in the autumn and the Laojie Hill in winter is a crystal palace of jade trees covered in snow. It is no wonder that people call it “a dream land” for recreation and holidays. The Jijiaojian (Horn-tip) Peak, the top peak of Mountain Funiu 400 kilometers long, overlooks all the others with an altitude of 2,212.5 meters. With 15 peaks of altitude above 1,800 meters such as the beautiful Maid Peak, grandiose waterfall clusters, huge odd stones, isolated virgin forests, the Loajie Hill Natural Reserve is really an amazing land of natural wonders.

What's more, Laojie Hill is one of the richest biologic gene banks of China with its vast vegetation of a great variety from unusual flowers, rare grass to age-old trees thrusting into the sky. Found in this area are 2,879 kinds of plants and more than 400 rare animals besides over 1,200 Chinese medicine herbs. Ginkgos, Indian azaleas of a thousand years old and the “national treasure” of katsura trees can be found here and there. The climate here is mild and pleasant, the annual average temperature being around 12.5℃. With the “fresh breeze touching like the green water and gentle rain cooling the summer” as described in poetic sentences, it is completely worthy of “a top summer resort” in central China.

It is the nature that has sculptured the landscapes of unusual beauty in the Laojie Hill. Come to enjoy the sunrise on a sea of white cloud on the Jijiaojian Peak, the roof of the central China, to appreciate the Indian azalea Park of a dozen centuries, to wander through the virgin forest, and you'll enjoy yourself in this quiet, peaceful dream garden.

Located deep into Mountain Funiu in Shuanglong Township, Xixia County, Longtangou Scenic Area boasts of its clustered sights and convenient transportation. Only 38km from the county seat and 160km from Nanyang City, it is reputed as “a fairyland in the world”.

A basin area made up of 18 terraced waterfalls, the place extends 12km long with falls from 1,300m down to 400m. Particularly in the section from the lower reaches of Xizhuang River to Longtangou, this 3km long river valley has a fall of over 500m and therefore the terraced waterfalls are formed here. The waterfalls have a vertical difference with the pools down the cliffs. According to surveys, there are a total of 19 terraced waterfalls with drops ranging from 35m to 15m. The Long Pool, the largest one, covers an area of over 800m2 and usually the pools have an area around 400m2.While the rainfalls are running down the cliffs, they look like numerous small dragons flying around and many sights are scattered around the place such as Qinglong Pool, Bailong Pool, Huanglong Pool, Shuanglong Pool and so on.

With numerous living species thriving here, the place is absolutely a “gene tank” and no doubt it makes an ideal place for vacation, summer escape, adventures and scientific education.