Located on the alluvial plains in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, 70km east of China Zhengzhou, KAIFENG is an ancient capital with a history stretching back over three thousand years. But its situation, repeatedly exposed to northern invaders and to flooding from the unpredictable Yellow River just to the north, has left few relics to conjure any past glory. However, unlike other ancient capitals in the area, the city hasn't grown into an industrial monster, and remains pleasingly compact, with all its sights in a fairly small area within the walls. It's been spruced up a lot recently, and today Kaifeng is a thriving town, not at all the sleepy place you might expect, with a big campaign currently underway to attract tourists. On the downside this means tourist resources, theme parks and the like have been constructed, which together with a mass influx of visitors may destroy the charm of the place, but on the plus side the PSB takes a relaxed attitude towards foreign visitors and you can stay wherever you like in any number of good, cheap hotels, and get a visa extension with little hassle. A great night market, a sprinkling of sights - some pretty temples and pagodas - and a calm atmosphere make this a worthwhile place to spend a few days, especially if you've grown weary of the scale and pace of most Chinese cities.

The city's heyday came under the Northern Song dynasty between 960 and 1127 AD. First heard of as a Shang town around 1000 BC, it served as the capital of several early kingdoms and minor dynasties, but under the Song the city became the political, economic and cultural centre of the empire. A famous five-metre-long horizontal scroll by Zhang Azheduan, Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival, now in the Forbidden City in Beijing, unrolls to show views of the city at this time, teeming with life, crammed with people, boats, carts and animals. It was a great age for painting, calligraphy, philosophy and poetry, and Kaifeng became famous for the quality of its textiles and embroidery and for its production of ceramics and printed books. It was also the home of the first mechanical clock in history, Su Song's astronomical clock tower of 1092, which worked by the transmission of energy from a huge water wheel. This Golden Age ended suddenly in 1127 when Jurchen invaders overran the city, looting palaces and temples and putting everything else to the torch. The emperor and his court were led away as prisoners. Just one royal prince escaped to the south, to set up a new capital out of harm's reach at Hangzhou beyond the Yangzi, but Kaifeng itself never recovered. Nor did much survive. What did has been damaged or destroyed by repeated flooding since - between 1194 and 1887 there were more than fifty severe incidents including one fearful occasion when the dykes were breached during a siege and at least three hundred thousand people are said to have died.