Beiguan District 北关区

What to see

The National Museum of Chinese Writing, at 656 East Renmin Avenue (人民大道), opened on 16 November 2009. The Anyang city government describes it as a national museum approved by the State Council, whose permanent display sets Chinese characters against the scripts of the world and includes the writing of China's ethnic minorities. The main building takes the shape of the ancient character for a city wall (墉) and carries taotie (饕餮) and coiled-dragon reliefs; two rows of bronze oracle-bone slabs, 28 in all, flank the forecourt. One display, 'One piece of oracle bone shook the world' (一片甲骨惊天下), follows the discovery, excavation and study of the oracle bones from Yinxu (殷墟).

Yuan Lin, on Shengli Road (胜利路), is the tomb of Yuan Shikai, first president of the Republic of China, and his wife Lady Yu (于氏). Yuan had asked to be buried by the Huan River (洹河), and the tomb was built between 1916 and 1918 on its north bank. The city government notes that its buildings line a central axis more than a kilometre long, from a screen wall and stone bridges through a memorial archway, stele pavilion and Jingren Hall (景仁堂) to the burial mound. The layout follows the pattern of Ming and Qing imperial tombs at a slightly lower rank and mixes Chinese forms with Western styling. It was listed as a national key protected site in 2013.

Getting oriented

Anyang railway station on the Beijing–Guangzhou railway is in the district, and the railway forms its boundary with Yindu District (殷都区). Jiefang Avenue (解放大道) and Hongqi Road (红旗路) are the main shopping streets of central Anyang, and many snack shops line Dengta Road and Yong'an Street (永安街).

Beiguan is one of Anyang's old urban districts. Henan Daily reports that the district turned the former Anyang household-appliance works into the Guanghuili (光辉里) shopping complex in 2022, converted the old printing and dyeing mill into a farmers' market complex, and has been laying out riverside gardens and green corridors along both banks of the Huan.

Highlights

• National Museum of Chinese Writing 中国文字博物馆: State-approved national museum of Chinese writing on East Renmin Avenue, opened in 2009, with a display on the Yinxu oracle bones.
• Yuan Lin 袁林: Tomb of Yuan Shikai on the north bank of the Huan River, built 1916–1918 on the pattern of Ming and Qing imperial tombs; national key protected site since 2013.