Overview

The city of Pingdingshan is located in the mid-south of Henan Province. The city’s name originated from its location at the foot of Pingding Mt. which is famous for its flat summit. Pingdingshan city is located in the middle of Henan Province. Pingdingshan municipality comprises two cities of Ru and Wugang, four counties of Ye, Lushan, Baofeng and Jia County, and the four major districts of Xinhua, Weidong, Zhan River, and Shilong. It covers about 7882 square kilometers with the population of about 4,900,000. The main districts of Pingdingshan city cover an area of over 70 square kilometers with the population of 912,000. The whole population consists of 40 peoples; most of which are Han Nationality, Hui Nationality, Man Nationality, and Mongolia Nationality. The city draws worldwide attention for its natural geographical location, abundant natural resources, solid basis of industry, and its civilization with long history.

Pingdingshan city has spectacular natural landscape, which is situated in the warm temperate zone with a continental monsoon climate. The climate throughout the city is mild with plenty of raindrops and clear-cut division of the four seasons. There are numerous forests and mountains within the city, which forms lots of scenic spots such as the national AAAA level scenic spot of Stoneman Mountain, the national forest park of Shimantan, the White Turtle Mountain and Zhaoping Lake scenic spots. The lakes and the mountains add radiance and beauty to each other.

Pingdingshan has a long history of culture. In Spring and Autumn period (a historical period of China), it was called the Country of Ying which regarded eagle as its totem. Eagle shares the same meaning with Ying in ancient Chinese, so Ying could be replaced by eagle. So the city of Pingdingshang is also referred as the city of eagle. There are many well-known historic interests and scenic spots such as: the relics of the Great Wall of Chu(a country in the Warring States period)—the origin of today’s the Great Wall, the relics of Ruguan kiln in North Song Dynasty, the thousand-year-old Fengxue Temple, Fragrant Mountain Temple, cemetery of Three Su(Sushi, Suxun and Suzhe are famous men of letters), the official buildings of Ming Dynasty in Ye county .The book fair holds annually at the Horse Street in Baofeng, which is a great miracle in the history of national culture for its unceasing development of more than 700 years. Therefore, Baofeng has been designated as “the country of the art of opera” and Pingdingshan as “the city of Chinese opera” by the Association of Chinese Opera.