Xinzheng, is it the “New Zhengzhou”?

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, has developed very rapidly in recent years with its superior geographical location. The city is getting bigger and bigger and expanding outward. There is a county-level city under Zhengzhou called Xinzheng. Some people think it is the abbreviation of "New Zhengzhou" and it is a new city that emerged due to the rapid development of Zhengzhou. In fact, on the contrary, Xinzheng has a longer history and appeared more than 800 years earlier than Zhengzhou. Today we will learn about these two places.

Zhengzhou is located in the north-central part of Henan Province, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, in the transition zone from the Funiu Mountains to the Huanghuai Plain, and bordering the Yellow River to the north. Its geographical location is extremely important. The ancients said that it "stands majestically in the center and controls the strategic points." Zhengzhou has been the capital five times in history (Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Guan State, Zheng State, and Han State during the Western Zhou Dynasty), and is one of the eight ancient capitals of my country.

Zhengzhou is strategically located, with well-developed roads and railways, and is a national transportation hub. It is precisely because of its superior and well-developed transportation conditions that Zhengzhou has rapidly risen to replace Kaifeng as the capital of Henan Province, and is known as the "city brought by trains", which is very similar to the situation of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province.

Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport is located in Zhengzhou Airport Zone, the first national-level airport, and is one of the eight regional hub airports in my country. Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport is a domestic airport with a passenger throughput of tens of millions and is very busy. In 2019, the passenger throughput was about 29.12 million.

Photo: Overlooking Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport

Xinzheng is adjacent to Zhengzhou in the north, Zhongmou County and Weishi County in the east, Changge City and Yuzhou City in the south, and Xinmi City in the west. It is less than 40 kilometers away from the downtown area of ​​Zhengzhou and can be reached in 30 minutes. Xinzheng's transportation network is also quite developed, with important national transportation trunk lines such as the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, and National Highway 107 running through the entire area. In addition, key projects such as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the West-to-East Gas Transmission Project also pass through the area.

Zhengzhou is now a shining star, overshadowing many famous cities in Henan, such as Luoyang, Kaifeng and other cities with a long history, not to mention Xinzheng. In fact, Xinzheng was very dazzling in ancient times, and its history is much longer than that of Zhengzhou. The Zhou emperor established his capital in Haojing and divided the world into fiefdoms. There were many small vassal states near Zhengzhou, Henan today, such as Guo, Guan, Kui, etc.

When King Ping of Zhou moved his capital to Luoyi (Luoyang) in the east, a vassal state also moved with the Zhou royal family, which was the State of Zheng. The State of Zheng was originally located in the east of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Haojing, in Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province today, and was the eastern barrier of the Zhou royal family. During the reign of King You of Zhou, Duke Huan of Zheng was very far-sighted and prepared for a rainy day by moving his clansmen and property east to a place between the states of Guo and Kuai, east of Mount Song. This was known in history as "Duke Huan's stay". After the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Duke Wu of Zheng moved the State of Zheng eastward, and gradually annexed the surrounding small states of Guo and Kuai. In order to distinguish it from the old State of Zheng in his hometown of Shaanxi, the new capital was named Xinzheng.

By the time of Duke Zhuang of Zheng, Zheng was strong and was known as the country of a thousand chariots. It was the strongest country in the early Spring and Autumn Period. However, the royal family of Zheng gradually began to fall into internal strife, which seriously weakened the strength of Zheng. In 375 BC, Han State seized the opportunity and destroyed Zheng in one fell swoop. After destroying Zheng, Han State moved its capital to Xinzheng until it was destroyed by Qin State. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Xinzheng served as the capital of Zheng and Han for more than 500 years.

During the Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Zhengzhou area was plagued by constant wars and the administrative divisions changed several times, but "Zhengzhou" never appeared in history books until the third year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty, when Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty changed Xingzhou to Zhengzhou, and Zhengzhou began to appear as a state-level administrative division.

Figure-Zhengzhou East Railway Station

After that, through the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China, Zhengzhou's development had its ups and downs, but its overall scale was the same as Xinzheng. It was not until 1954 when Zhengzhou replaced Kaifeng as the capital of Henan Province that it ushered in a period of rapid development opportunities.

Source: Map Emperor