Overview

Sanmenxia City is an emerging industrial city which was built with the construction of the first dam on Yellow River in the 1950s. However, the city has a much longer history. It is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese culture. Human beings began to live in the area as early as 500,000 to 600,000 years ago. Some major clans appeared in the region 5 to 6 thousand years ago. In Xia (c.2100BC-c.1600BC) and Shang (c.1600BC-c.1100BC) dynasties, Sanmenxia was the center of the region.

There are many places of interest in Sanmenxia City. The site of Yangshao Culture is a proof that there was New Stone Age Culture in China (people used to think that there was no New Stone Age culture in China). The chariots and horses made of smelted metal have been found in the cemetery of Guo State, an enfeoffment of initial stage of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.1100BC-c.771BC). Hangu Pass, an ancient natural barrier, was first built during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). The pass was a strategic point on the way leading to the ancient capitals of Chang’an (the present Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province) in the west and Luoyang (capital of Henan Province) in the east. It was here that Laozi, the founder of Taoism wrote the immortal “the Classic of the Virtue of the Tao” over 2,000 years ago. The Baolun Temple Pagoda is one of the four echo buildings in ancient China (the other three are the echo wall in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the Yingying Pagoda in Pujiu Temple in Shanxi Province and the stone musical instrument in the Grand Buddha Temple in Sichuan Province).

Sanmenxia City also boasts a beautiful environment. Located south of Yellow River, the city looks like a peninsula, with three sides surrounded by water. The forest parks and nature reserves total more than 300 sq. km. Every year, hundreds of white swans fly from the distant Siberia to the swamp of Sanmenxia Reservoir for the winter.