Get to know Longting District
Photo adjustments
Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Kaifeng
- Chinese name
- 龙亭区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 345.00 km²
- Population · 2019
- 436,000
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
History
The Dragon Pavilion stands where the palace of Bianliang (汴梁), the Northern Song capital, once stood; Jin troops destroyed most of it and nothing of the palace remains above ground. A Ming prince's residence, the Zhou Mansion (周王府), was built on the spot in 1378 and lost to Yellow River floods in 1642. In 1692 a small pavilion holding a tablet to the emperor was put up on an artificial hill here, and the name 'Dragon Pavilion' came from that tablet. The present hall was rebuilt to its old design in 1856.
The grounds became Longting Park in 1925. After the rear wall of the platform collapsed on 15 July 1994, the hall was taken down and reassembled, with 90 per cent of the material coming from its own dismantled timber frame; the work finished that October. Henan listed the Dragon Pavilion as a provincial protected site in 1963, and in 2019 the main hall was added to the national list of major protected sites. The district in its present form dates from 2014, when the State Council approved merging the old Longting District with Jinming District (金明区).
What to see
The Dragon Pavilion hall has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof and sits on a large grey-brick platform reached by 72 steps, facing south. A road in front of it divides Panjia Lake (潘家湖) on the east from Yangjia Lake (杨家湖) on the west, and south of the two lakes, at the north end of Zhongshan Road (中山路), is the rebuilt Song Imperial Way (宋都御街).
Qingming Riverside Park (清明上河园), at 5 Longting West Road on the west shore of Longting Lake (龙亭湖), is a Song-culture theme park rated 5A that opened on 28 October 1998. It is laid out after Zhang Zeduan's (张择端) scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图); its Rainbow Bridge (虹桥) has a 25-metre span, and a water show with more than 700 performers, 'Dasong Dongjing Menghua' (大宋·东京梦华), has been staged on Jinglong Lake (景龙湖) since 2008.
The district government also lists the Shaanxi-Shanxi-Gansu Guild Hall (山陕甘会馆), the Hanyuan Stele Forest (翰园碑林), the Tianbo Yang Mansion (天波杨府) and Wansui Mountain (万岁山) among its historic sights, and a Yellow River scenic area (黄河游览区) and Liu Pond (柳池) among its natural ones.
Highlights
- Dragon Pavilion 龙亭: Qing hall on the Northern Song palace site, rebuilt in 1856; main hall a national protected site since 2019.
- Qingming Riverside Park 清明上河园: 5A Song-culture theme park opened in 1998, modelled on Zhang Zeduan's Qingming scroll.
- Song Imperial Way 宋都御街: Rebuilt street south of Panjia and Yangjia lakes.
- Wansui Mountain 万岁山: Listed by the district government among its historic sights.
Sources for this guide
走进龙亭-开封市龙亭区 · Longting District People's Government, Kaifeng
龙亭区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
龙亭 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
清明上河园 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Longting District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Longting District
AI illustration; an interpretive view, not a photograph. AI 示意图，非景点实拍。Millennium City Park清明上河园
Qingming Riverside Garden is a modern recreation inspired by Zhang Zeduan’s painting of urban life along a river. The artificial waterway links market streets, bridges and performance areas, with Rainbow Bridge forming a central…
Read the place guide →
A lakeside pavilion and willow trees in Iron Pagoda Park, Kaifeng · 开封铁塔公园湖畔亭台与柳树 Source-recorded photograph date: Taken on 19 July 2015.Iron Pagoda Park铁塔公园
Tieta Gongyuan, the Iron Pagoda Park, is a public park in the northeastern corner of old Kaifeng, in Longting District, laid out in 1955 around a Northern Song brick pagoda faced in glazed tile.
Read the place guide →
Wansuishan Martial Arts City · 万岁山武侠城Wansuishan Martial Arts City万岁山武侠城
Kaifeng theme park staging a wuxia world: horseback battles, evening iron-flower shows, costumed street actors and the Wang Po matchmaking show.
Read the place guide →
The Dragon Pavilion in Long Ting Park, Kaifeng · 开封龙亭公园龙亭 Source-recorded photograph date: Taken on 2 December 2009.Dragon Pavilion Park龙亭公园
Park in central Kaifeng around the Dragon Pavilion, a Qing palace hall on a 72-step brick terrace over the Northern Song palace site.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Longting District covers the centre of Kaifeng. Search for 龙亭区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Millennium City Park and Iron Pagoda Park are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Kaifeng →More in Kaifeng
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 龙亭区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 龙亭 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 清明上河园 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Iron Pagoda Park · 江上清风1961 · CC BY 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
.jpg){kind=link}
Photo: Wansuishan Martial Arts City · Source photographer · License not provided. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Dragon Pavilion Park · caoyuan · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.