Henan

Antiquity

Archaeological sites reveal that prehistoric cultures such as the Yangshao Culture and Longshan Culture were active in what later is northern Henan since the Neolithic Era. The later Erlitou culture has been controversially identified with the Xia dynasty, the first and mostly legendary Chinese dynasty.^[20]

In the 11th century BC, the Zhou dynasty of Shaanxi arrived from the west and overthrew the Shang dynasty.^[21] During the Western Zhou period (c. 1046 – 771 BC), the capital and political and economical center was moved away from Henan for the first time. The Spring and Autumn period, a period of warfare and rivalry, began in 721 BC. What later is Henan and all of China was divided into independent states, which are at war for control of the central plain. While regarded formally as the ruler of China, the control that Zhou king in Luoyang exerted over the feudal kingdoms had virtually disappeared. Laozi, the founder of Taoism, was born in northern Chu, part of what later is Henan.^[22]

Imperial era

The Sui dynasty reunified China in 589 with its capital back in Chang'an. It collapsed due to Sui Emperor Yang's costly attempt to relocate the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang and the construction of extravagant palaces there.^[23]

The Tang dynasty lasted for three centuries before it eventually succumbed to internal strife. In the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907–960) that followed, Kaifeng in eastern Henan became the capital of four dynasties. The Song dynasty that reunified China in 982 also had its capital at Kaifeng. Under Song rule, Kaifeng overtook Luoyang and Chang'an as the largest city in China and in the world.^[24]

Kaifeng served as the Jurchen's "southern capital" from 1157 (other sources say 1161) and was reconstructed during this time.^[25][26]

Modern era

The Qing dynasty was overthrown by the 1911 Revolution and then the Republic of China was established in 1912,^[27] during which a man from Henan, Yuan Shikai, played a role and thus became the first president of Republic of China.^[28]

In 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, when the Imperial Japanese Army captured Kaifeng, the government led by Chiang Kai-shek bombed the Huayuankou dam in Zhengzhou in order to prevent Japanese forces from advancing further.^[29] This caused flooding in Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. In 1942 Henan was hit by the Chinese famine of 1942-43 resulting from a mix of drought, locusts and destruction caused by the war.^[30]

In 1954, the government of the People's Republic of China moved the capital of Henan from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou,^[31] as a result of its economic importance. The PRC had earlier established a Pingyuan Province consisting of what later is northern Henan and western Shandong with Xinxiang as its capital. This province was abolished in 1952.^[32]

In 1958, Yashan in Suiping County, Henan, became the first people's commune of China, heralding the beginning of the "Great Leap Forward".^[33] In the subsequent famines of the 1960s, which are attributed to the Great Leap Forward, millions of people died in Henan.^{[34][unreliable source?]} Suffering under famine and economic chaos caused by the Great Leap, locals in Henan offered resistance mostly through banditry.^[35] In 1959, a peasant uprising erupted and was defeated after twenty days of fighting.^[36]

A destructive flooding of the Huai River in the summer of 1950 prompted construction of dams on its tributaries in central and southern Henan. Some of the dams were not able to withstand the levels of rainfall caused by Typhoon Nina in August 1975. Sixty-two dams, the largest of which was the Banqiao Dam in Biyang County collapsed; flooding, spread over counties throughout Zhumadian Prefecture and further downstream, killed at least 26,000 people.^[37][38] Unofficial human life loss estimates, including deaths from the ensuing epidemics and famine, range as high as 85,600,^[37] 171,000^[39] or 230 000.^[37] This is considered the most deadly dam-related disaster in human history.^[37]

In July 2021, rainfall caused flooding, killing 302 and damaging amounting to 82 billion yuan.^[40]

Population composition

98.8% of the population is Han. Populations of Mongols and Manchus exist in scattered rural communities, and urban centers. Along with Jiangxi, Henan has one of the most unbalanced gender ratios in China. As a result of the Chinese government's one-child policy (some parents do not want the only child to be female and abort the fetus), the gender ratio was 118.46 males for 100 females in 2000. Subsequently, aborting fetuses due to their female sex was banned in Henan and fines are issued for those who violate the law. The ratio decreased to 117.8 in 2010 and down to 108.4 in 2020.^[59] Daughter-only families receive an annual allowance from the government.^[63] Based on a 2009 British Medical Journal study, the ratio is over 140 boys for every 100 girls in the 1–4 age group;^[64] this might be an exaggeration, as some families with more than one child do not register their daughters to the hukou in order to escape fines. The National Bureau of Statistics of China reports that to have decreased to 100.57 in 2023, presenting a conflicting narrative from outside sources.^[59]

Employment

The government is an employer in Henan. Its largest sectors include manufacturing, public bureaucracy, education, and construction.^[59] This generally mirrors larger trends across China such as the CCP’s Made in China 2025 plan to keep Chinese manufacturing central to the global supply chain.^[65] Public administration is a sector umbrellaing public servant jobs such as social security and public management. It has employed fewer and fewer numbers year-over-year since 2020. In the public sector, reported numbers show urban employment is dominated by retail. This is reflected in gross regional product numbers by industry, with Henan’s largest value-added contributors from secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (services) industry.^[59]

Religion

According to a 2012 survey, around 13% of the population of Henan belongs to organised religions, the largest groups being Buddhists with 6.4%, followed by Protestants with 5.6%, Muslims with 1.3% and Catholics with 0.5%.^[66]

Henan has the largest Christian population by numbers and percentage of any province of China,^[66] 6.1% of the province's population as of 2012^[update], corresponding to approximately 7 million Christians. A 2009 survey reported the share of Christians to be 9.33%.^[67] In 2019, Communist officials demolished the True Jesus Church near Zhumadian.^[68] In 2020, Communist officials demolished the Sunzhuang Church.^[69]

The reports didn't give figures for other types of religion; 86% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities, Confucianism, Taoism and folk religious sects (for example, a sect that is endogenous to Henan is the Tianxian miaodao). According to a 2007 survey, approximately 8% of the Henanese believe in and are involved in ancestor veneration, the traditional Chinese religion of the lineages organised into lineage churches and ancestral shrines.^[67]

Detail with incense burner at the Guanlin, Temple Mausoleum of Guandi in Luoyang.

Indian style pavilion of the White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple in China.

Temple of the Chenghuangshen (City God) of Anyang.

The Zhongyuan Buddha (Great Buddha of the Central Plains) of the Temple of the Spring in Lushan is the second tallest statue in the world.