During the wheat harvest, this treasure town in Henan can no longer stay hidden

Henan Daily

Zhengzhou: Located between the two ancient capitals of Zhengzhou and Luoyang, at the confluence of the Luo and Yellow Rivers, this city has been thrust into the “trending topics” by Song Mausoleums.

As the curtain falls on the wheat harvest, Gongyi’s veil is lifted.

It is the cradle of Heluo culture, the hometown of the Poet-Sage Du Fu, a famous historical and cultural city in Henan Province, and one of the core birthplaces of Chinese civilization.

“Surrounded by mountains and rivers, it’s solid and unshakable.” Here the clear Luo River meets the turbid Yellow River, echoing the long history of the Chinese nation.

Today, let’s step into this “treasured land” favored by the Northern Song emperors.

In the rural wheat fields of Gongyi, there stands a group of “watchmen” from the Northern Song Dynasty. This wheat harvest season, the millennium-old Song Mausoleums framed against the golden wheat fields went viral, bringing Gongyi, located between Zhengzhou and Luoyang, into the trending topics.

The Song Mausoleums in Gongyi are one of the two best-preserved imperial mausoleum complexes in China, a national key cultural relic protection unit, and vividly known as an “open-air stone carving museum on the ground”.

Here, Li Bai’s poetic image of “Against the setting sun in the west wind, stand mausoleums of the Han Dynasty” has been visualized. Song Mausoleums contain the tombs of seven Northern Song emperors, their empresses, relatives, and notable generals and ministers, as well as 1,027 existing ground stone carvings, covering a total area of 189.04 square kilometers. It is one of the largest and best-preserved imperial mausoleums with intact ground remains in China.

The Song Mausoleums have long merged with villages and farmland.

On the evening of June 6, in front of the Yongxi Mausoleum in Hutuo Village, children just out of school shuttle among the stone statues, while elderly villagers sit on stone seats to eat, smoke, and chat.

From time to time, the walkie-talkie at the Yongyu Mausoleum Cultural Relic Protection Station crackles to life: “Yongyu Mausoleum, please respond.” Staff member Mr. Bai immediately picks up the walkie-talkie and replies, “Yongyu Mausoleum is normal, all clear.”

Mr. Bai is from Baling Village, named after the “Seven Emperors and Eight Mausoleums” (the tombs of the seven Northern Song emperors excluding Huizong and Qinzong, plus the tomb of Zhao Hongyin, father of Zhao Kuangyin). He says, “Yongyu Mausoleum has 52 stone statues. We patrol and inspect these relics every hour, and the mausoleum area is guarded 24 hours a day.”

Generations of farmers have harvested wheat here, planted corn, reaped crops, and sown hopes. Groups of children have grownup under the watchful eyes of the stone statues, and every sunset casts a golden slanting light over the mausoleums.

Gongyi, where the mausoleums are located, is also deeply connected to the word “solid” (“Gu” in Chinese).

It stretches from Hulao Pass in the east (adjacent to Xingyang) to Heishi Pass in the west (connected to Yanshi), borders Songshan Mountain in the south (separating it from Xinmi and Dengfeng), and faces the Yellow River in the north (across from Wen County and Mengzhou).

Ancient Gongyi was called Gong County, literally meaning “surrounded by mountains and rivers, solid and unshakable”. According to Gong County Annals of the Jiajing period, “Surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides, it is named Gong (solid).” Due to its strategic position guarding the ancient capital Luoyang, it is also known as the “Key to the Eastern Capital” and has been a contested military hub since ancient times.

Calculated from the first year of King Zhuangxiang of Qin (249 BCE), Gongyi has over 2,200 years of county-level administrative history. Its civilizational history is even longer—it is one of the core birthplaces of Chinese civilization. The Shuanghuai Tree Site in Shuanghuai Tree Village, Heluo Town, is the capital of the “Heluo Ancient Kingdom” dating back approximately 5,300 years.

The Shuanghuai Tree Site is the highest-level urban-center settlement discovered so far in the middle and late Yangshao Culture of the Yellow River Basin, an early stage of Chinese civilization’s formation. It is hailed as the “embryo of early Chinese civilization.”

At the confluence of the Heluo Rivers, the clear Yiluo River meets the turbid Yellow River, forming a striking “mandarin duck pot” pattern from afar.

Here lies the millennium-old national granary—the Luokou (Xingluo) Granary Site. According to Gong County Annals, “In the third year of the Daye reign of the Sui Dynasty, a granary was built on the southeast plain of Gong County, spanning over 20 li, with 3,000 cellars, each holding 8,000 dan of grain, also called Xingluo Granary.” It was a crucial granary along the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, witnessing the rise and fall of this ancient waterway.

As a waterway, the canal was once the nation’s lifeline; as a commercial route, the Heluo confluence once bustled with sailing ships and merchants. The Kang Baiwan family, who settled in Kangdian Town, Gongyi, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, leveraged their geographic advantage and river-based shipbuilding to establish a vast commercial empire known as “the wealthiest in three provinces, with ships sailing on six rivers”.

Today, the Kang Baiwan Manor, spanning the Ming, Qing, and Republican eras, represents the fortified architectural style of the North China Loess Plateau. It is praised as the spiritual home of Henan merchants and a model of Central Plains ancient architecture. The manor preserves over 3,000 historical relics, including steles, plaques, antiques, furniture, and calligraphy, offering high value for studying Ming-Qing culture, folk customs, and ancient architecture.

The Song Mausoleums lie at the foot of Qinglong Mountain, where deep in the mountains stands the thousand-year-old Ciyun Temple.

Founded in the 7th year of the Yongping reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ciyun Temple was the first non-imperial Buddhist temple established by Indian monks Kashyapa Matanga and Dharmaraksa after Buddhism entered the Central Plains. It is renowned as the “Origin of Buddhism” and the “Ancestral Temple” of Chinese Buddhism.

According to Gong County Annals, the mountains in Gongyi are divided into “Southern Mountains” and “Northern Mountains”. “The southern mountains face Songshan Mountain, with distinct branches; the northern mountains are connected to Mangling, each with its own name.” Qinglong Mountain belongs to the Southern Mountain range, while Mangling is part of the Northern Mountain range.

The Grotto Temple at the foot of Dali Mountain in Mangling is an important Buddhist grotto in the Central Plains. Though smaller in scale than the Longmen, Yungang, and Mogao Grottoes, its 120-meter-long grotto complex houses tens of thousands of Buddhist niches and statues.

Among them, the “Emperor and Empress Worshiping Buddha” picturein the first grotto is the best-preserved unique artifact in China, deemed invaluable.

Blessed with natural treasures and outstanding talents, Gongyi has nurtured many notable figures in history, none more famous than the Poet-SageDu Fu.

At the foot of Bijia Mountain in Yaowan Village, Zhanjie Town, Gongyi, lies the birthplace and childhood home of Du Fu. Here, a prodigy of poetry emerged: “At seven, my mind was already strong, singing of phoenixes when I opened my mouth. At nine, I wrote large characters, filling a bag with my works.” Here, the daily life of an innocent boy was recorded: “At fifteen, my heart was still childlike, as vigorous as a young ox running back and forth. When pears and jujubes ripened in the courtyard in August, I climbed trees a thousand times a day.” Here, the heart of a poet concerned for the nation and people was nurtured: “Oh, to have ten thousand mansions, sheltering all the world’s poor in warmth and joy!”

Du Fu’s Hometown is a large cultural tourist area integrating sightseeing, commemoration, education, and cultural experiences. Spanning 372 mu, the scenic area showcases Du Fu’s life, the essence of his poetry, and his achievements in Chinese poetic history, serving as a “treasure trove” of Du Fu’s culture.

Du Fu deserves the title of “People’s Artist” in ancient China. Gongyi also boasts the former residence of the renowned Henan Opera singer Chang Xiangyu, whose professional spirit of “Opera is More Precious Than Heaven” and patriotic devotion—donating fighter jets to support the Korean War—embody her well-deserved status as a “People’s Artist.”

Gongyi’s history stretches back over five thousand years from the Shuanghuai Tree Site, with even older legends.

Here, many myths related to the birth of Chinese civilization persist. For example, after witnessing the “Taiji wonder” formed by the confluence of the Luo and Yellow Rivers, Fuxi is said to have drawn the Yin-Yang diagram and deduced the Eight Diagrams. To this day, the site where Fuxi drew the Eight Diagrams remains along the Luo River.

The Honggou Site on the Yellow River bank is said to be where Suiren Shi invented fire by drilling wood. Legend has it that Shennong Shi once tasted herbs here and taught agriculture to the people.