Situated in northeast He'nan Province, the city of Jiaozuo lies to the east of Xinxiang, west of Luoyang, and north of Mountain Taihang, neighboring Zhengzhou (separated by the Yellow River) to the south. With a total area of 4,071 square kilometers (of which the urban area covers 68 square kilometers) and a population of 3.3 million, it enjoys an advantageous location, for it is an intersection of North and South China as well as a center zone in Neo-European-Asian Continental Bridge. As a crucial joint of the North and South, West and East, it plays an essential role in the transportation of central China.
Because of its rich tourist resources, superior geographical location and cultural relics of thousands of years, Jiaozuo abounds in unique natural and historical sights, such as Mountain Yuntai National Resort, Qingtian River, Mountain Shennong, Fenglin Canyon and so on. The Global Mountain Yuntai Geological Park, consisted of Mountain Yuntai, Qinglong Canyon, Fenglin Canyon, Mountain Shennong and Qingtian River, has been recognized by the UNESCO as one of twenty-eight global geological parks in the first group. Also, there are six key scenic spots under state protection, such as the Site of Old Prefecture, Jiayingguan and mausoleum of Han Yu (one of the famous literati in the Tang Dynasty).
Jiaozuo is also the birthplace of the famous shadow-boxing. The vigorous but gentle Chens' Taijiquan derived from one of the villages here called Chenjiagou 300 years ago. It is a very popular sport spread widely across the world till today and regarded as one of the treasures both in Chinese martial arts and the world cultural relics. Other tourist attractions here include “the Movie Town of Yellow River culture”, which is one of the shooting bases of CCTV, the Longyuanhu Park——a place for water sports entertainments, the Forests Park, a place of collection of varieties of animals and plants and so on. With so many attractive natural and historical scenic spots, the city is regarded as a combination of ancient culture and modern civilization.
There are many special local products in Jiaozuo, among which the most well-known ones are the Black Goats and preserved eggs in Xiuwu County, dried persimmon in Jiaozuo, Youcha in Wuzhi County (gruel made of peanuts, sesames, flour, etc.) and the famous four kinds of Chinese herbs (Rehmannia glutinosa, Chrysanthemum, Chinese yam and Achyranthes bidentata in Chinese medicine). |