Yindu District 殷都区

What to see

Yinxu straddles the Huan River (洹河) and covers about 30 square kilometres. The Anyang city government describes it as the first late Shang capital in Chinese history confirmed by written records, oracle-bone inscriptions and excavation. The site is made up of the palace and ancestral-temple remains, the royal tombs, the Hougang site (后冈遗址) and the Huanbei Shang City (洹北商城), and is known for its oracle bones, bronzes and jades. It is a World Cultural Heritage site and a 5A scenic area. The new Yinxu Museum (殷墟博物馆), designed by the architect He Jingtang (何镜堂), stands on the Huan facing the palace and temple zone across the river; it shows nearly 4,000 bronzes, pottery pieces, jades and oracle bones, and more than three-quarters of its precious pieces are on show for the first time.

At Xigaoxue village (西高穴村) in Anfeng Township (安丰乡), the Cao Cao Gaoling Site Museum (曹操高陵遗址博物馆) is built over the tomb itself: a multi-chamber brick tomb with a sloping passage, front and rear chambers and four side rooms. Finds included tags inscribed "Wei Wu Wang" (魏武王, King Wu of Wei) and fragments of the occupant's skull and limb bones.

Ma Family Manor (马氏庄园) in Xijiang village (西蒋村), Shuiye (水冶), was the home of Ma Piyao (马丕瑶), a late Qing governor of Guangxi and Guangdong. Built between the Guangxu reign and the early Republic, it covers more than 20,000 square metres; Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor stayed here, and the Liu-Deng army used it as a temporary headquarters during the civil war.

The Yinxu Archaeology Culture and Tourism Town (殷墟考古文旅小镇) occupies the production yard of the former Yubei cotton mill (豫北纱厂), with an archaeology science hall, a mill history exhibition and an immersive show. The provincially listed Song-dynasty tomb of Han Qi (韩琦), the Northern Song chancellor who served three emperors, lies at Huangfutun village (皇甫屯村) in Beimeng Subdistrict (北蒙街道).

Food and local products

The district's sixth list of intangible heritage, published in December 2023, is made up of food and craft skills. Its foods include Shengdeli fenjiang fan (盛德利粉浆饭, "starch-slurry rice"), the Jia family's crystal pork hock from Shuiye (水冶贾氏鸿运水晶肘花), the Shen family's big-pot meat from Shuiye (水冶申家大锅肉), guoxiang tofu (锅香豆腐) and Xinrui flower cakes (新睿传统花糕). Crafts on the same list include Yanjiayao pottery (岩家窑陶瓷), Huang family clay figures (黄氏泥塑) and Gutongzhang's restoration and replica-making of bronzes (古铜张海派青铜器修复及复仿制技艺).

Highlights

• Yinxu 殷墟: Late Shang capital on both banks of the Huan River, about 30 square kilometres; World Cultural Heritage site.
• Yinxu Museum 殷墟博物馆: Nearly 4,000 Shang bronzes, pottery pieces, jades and oracle bones, facing the palace and temple zone across the Huan.
• Cao Cao Gaoling Site Museum 曹操高陵遗址博物馆: Museum built over Cao Cao's brick tomb at Xigaoxue village, where tags inscribed "Wei Wu Wang" were found.
• Ma Family Manor 马氏庄园: Late Qing residence of governor Ma Piyao at Shuiye, over 20,000 square metres.
• Shuiye crystal pork hock 水冶贾氏鸿运水晶肘花: Jia family recipe on the district intangible-heritage list of 2023.