Henan

On our way to Beijing from Fuzhou, we stopped at a few places in Henan. Kaifeng was disappointing primarily because the Kaifeng Museum was closed for renovations. The only thing I was really happy to have seen was the Iron Pagoda (with iron-colored ceramic tiles on the outside), which was constructed during the Northern Song dynasty:



We then spent a few days in Luoyang. Highlights included the ancient tomb museum, where numerous old tombs from the area were transplanted into a museum north of town. Here are some photos of Northern Song-period tombs:





We also took one trip a bit out of town to see the Qian Tang zhi zhai. This was the home of an important collector of Tang-period tomb epitaphs. His entire collection of well over 1000 inscriptions was embedded into the walls of his house:



Finally, we spent the last day in Luoyang at the Longmen grottos (a Buddhist complex largely constructed in the Early Tang):



After Luoyang, we headed towards Zhengzhou. On the way, we stopped at Gongyi to see the tomb of the Song emperor Renzong. Here are some of the statues lining the spirit path to the south of the tomb. Note how the tomb has been "improved" in recent years with a Chinese-style red building surrounding the actual tomb mound.