Three thousand years, one province.
75
entries
10
eras
44
places
Henan is where a great deal of Chinese history happened first: farming villages, bronze capitals, the earliest writing, cave temples, the Song court. This page puts those events on one line you can filter — and on one map you can pin them to.
7 entries · Luoyang
Only showing Luoyang · 7 entries across 5 dynasties
Prehistoricc. 7000–2000 BCE
1 entriesFarming villages, bone flutes and painted pottery along the Yellow River.
c. 1750 BCESitesErlitou and the search for the Xia capital
二里头与夏都之争
A palace complex, bronze workshops and a road grid at Erlitou near Yanshi; many scholars identify it with a Xia capital.
Zhou1046–256 BCE
1 entriesFeudal states, philosophers and the earliest classics.
c. 500 BCEConfucius asks about rites in Luoyi
孔子入周问礼
The young teacher travelled to the Zhou capital to study ceremony and music, a meeting later carved and painted many times.
Qin & Han221 BCE–220 CE
1 entriesEmpires, roads, paper and the arrival of Buddhism.
68 CECultureThe White Horse Temple
白马寺
Built for monks who arrived from the west with sutras on white horses, it is the oldest Buddhist temple in China.
Wei, Jin & Six Dynasties220–589 CE
1 entriesWarring courts, scholars in groves and the first cave temples.
493 CECultureThe first grottoes at Longmen
龙门石窟开凿
When the Northern Wei court moved to Luoyang, carving began on the cliffs south of the city and continued for four centuries.
Sui & Tang581–907 CE
3 entriesGranaries, canals and a capital that traded with the world.
602 CEPeopleXuanzang leaves from Henan
玄奘西行
Born near Yanshi, he walked to India and back, then translated what he carried for the rest of his life.
605 CEThe canal reaches Luoyang
大运河通洛
The Sui dug a water road linking the Yangtze to the capital; grain depots at Luoyang held what the empire ate.
690 CEPeopleWu Zetian makes Luoyang the divine capital
武则天与神都洛阳
The only woman to reign as emperor moved the court east, renamed Luoyang the divine capital and built on a vast scale.