Xinxiang

Xinxiang lies in northern Henan on the north bank of the Yellow River, an industrial and university city on the Beijing-Guangzhou rail corridor. Its greatest draws are in the Taihang Mountains to the northwest, where the village of Guoliang is reached by a tunnel road hand-carved through a cliff by local villagers, one of China's most astonishing feats of rural engineering. Nearby Wanxian Mountain and Bali Gorge offer dramatic gorges and waterfalls popular with hikers and filmmakers. The historic Baiquan springs at the foot of Sumen Mountain have drawn scholars for centuries. Xinxiang manufactures batteries, vehicles and biochemicals. High-speed rail places it about half an hour from provincial capital Zhengzhou.