Luoyang was a capital for so many Chinese dynasties that locals like to say it holds the history of thirteen of them, and the Dingding Gate was the grand southern entrance of the outer city in the Sui and Tang periods, when Luoyang was one of the largest cities in the world. Through it passed officials, merchants, pilgrims and ambassadors, many of them travelling on the routes that linked China with Central Asia and beyond, which is why it forms part of the UNESCO listing of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, inscribed in 2014. Excavations revealed the foundations of the gate and the road surface, with ruts and even footprints of people and animals, now protected inside a modern museum building that echoes the shape of the original gate.
Luoyang has more to offer than most cities its size. The Longmen Grottoes, south of the city, contain tens of thousands of Buddha statues carved into the limestone cliffs along the Yi river, also listed by UNESCO, and the White Horse Temple, east of the city, is traditionally regarded as the first Buddhist temple in China. The Shaolin Temple, famous for kung fu, lies in the Song mountains about an hour's ride to the south-east.
Riding in and around Luoyang means busy urban traffic, wide boulevards, electric scooters everywhere and drivers with their own interpretation of lanes. As elsewhere in China, foreign riders need local permits and licences, and some roads restrict motorcycles. Outside the city, roads into the Song mountains and toward the Yellow River offer more interesting riding, with hills, river valleys and villages.
Fuel, food and every service are easy to find in a city of more than a million people. Luoyang is famous for its water banquet, a series of soups and broths served in a set order, and for its peonies, which bloom in April and attract huge crowds to the peony festival. Street food includes beef soup with flatbread, noodles and dumplings.
Come in April for the peonies, or in autumn for clear skies and comfortable temperatures. Summer is hot and humid, winter cold. The ruts in the old road surface, worn by cartwheels more than a thousand years ago, are the detail that stays with you long after the grand reconstructions fade.