The city of ANYANG , 200km north of Zhengzhou, is the site of the Shang-dynasty capital and one of the most important archeological sites in China. As the ancient city lies under the ground, however, and the contemporary one is too small for a glamorous downtown and too big to have much character, it hardly justifies a stop unless you have a special interest or want to break a trip to or from Beijing. Most of the town is south of the Huan River, but the ancient sites, the Yinxu Ruins and the Yuan Forest are just north of it, in a grey industrial zone.

 

Jiefang Lu and Honqi Lu are the liveliest districts of the modern city, with a night and weekend market on Honqi Lu. The most rewarding excursion you can take in central Anyang is a wander around the old city , the area around the Bell Tower at the south end of Honqi Lu, with dusty, unpaved streets and alleyways mostly too narrow for cars or lorries, but full of people and carts. From the streets you see only the long, whitewashed walls of the compounds with their tiled roofs. Direct entrance to the courtyards from the street is blocked by further walls, a traditional defence against evil spirits. Inside the old city, southwest of the Bell Tower, you'll find the Wenfeng Pagoda (daily 8am-5pm; ¥5), built in 925 AD and unusually shaped; it gets larger towards the top, ending with a dagoba-shaped peak atop a flat roof. Southeast of the Bell Tower, the Gaoge Miao (daily 8am-4.30pm; ¥10), built in 1451, is an attractive building with stone carvings of dragons and lions around its entrance, well suited to its present purpose as a gallery displaying the work of local artists. On show are paper cuts, calligraphy and masks, and many of the local calligraphers use the Shang script.