Sanmenxia

Sanmenxia (三门峡; Sānménxiá) is a city in western Henan with 2.2 million inhabitants.

Understand
Sanmenxia is on the southern bank of the Yellow River. Sanmenxia city is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. During the Warring States period, this city guarded the strategic pass between the Qin forces in the Wei Valley to the west and the kingdoms of the North China Plain to the east. It is here that Laozi wrote the Dao De Jing, the founding charter and source of Taoism.

In 1921, the first of late Stone Age paintings were found in MianChiXian Yangshao village. These paintings showed a Chinese matriarchal society. The patterned painted pottery is one of the important features of what came to be known at Yanghao culture.

Today, the city is mostly known for the dam of the same name, built in revolutionary fervor with the semi-mythical goal of clearing the Yellow River. Tourists come during the rainy season to witness massive discharges of the river's water.