Zhengzhou is a modern city of over four million people built on top of a very old one. Under the streets lie the walls of a Shang dynasty city some three and a half thousand years old, parts of which are still visible as long banks of rammed earth, and the Yellow River runs just north of town. The city is the capital of Henan, the province that some Chinese call the cradle of civilisation, and for much of history the plains around here were the political centre of the country.
The Tongji Canal ran through this region in the Sui dynasty, linking the Yellow River at the east end of the Luoyang area with the Huai River in the south-east. Under Emperor Yang, who ordered it built in the early seventh century, millions of labourers were drafted for the work, and the cost in lives contributed to the fall of the dynasty. Yet the canal outlived the dynasty that dug it, carrying southern rice and silk to the northern capitals for centuries. The Zhengzhou section is a modest survivor, a stretch of excavated bank and water kept as a heritage site, listed as part of the Grand Canal in 2014.
For the rider, central Henan is a flat world of wheat fields, brick villages and busy roads. Highways here are wide and fast, with heavy lorry traffic, and local roads are narrower and rougher. Beautiful riding lies to the west, where the Song mountains rise above the plain and the Shaolin Temple, the cradle of Chinese kung fu, stands in a wooded valley. Roads climb into the hills with a series of bends and tunnels, and the scenery changes from farmland to forested ridges.
Fuel is easy to find in and around the city, and food is hearty and filling, with hand-pulled noodles, braised lamb and the local specialty of Henan, a soup of wheat and spices known as hulatang. The best seasons are spring and autumn, with mild temperatures, and the dust and smog of winter can be unpleasant. In summer, heavy rain can come with little warning, and in 2021 the city suffered devastating floods. Foreign riders in China face strict rules about licences, plates and guides, so check the situation before you plan a ride.