14 Days in Zhumadian

High-speed trains from Zhengzhou East reach Zhumadian West in about an hour. See the city museum's Han-dynasty tomb bricks, then an evening of night stalls in the recreated postal-station quarter.

1. zhumadian city museum
2. zhumadian huangjia yizhan

An hour northwest in Suiping County, the 4A scenic area and national geopark stacks granite tors into corridors and caves, tied in local tradition to the 16th-century Journey to the West. Stay overnight at the hot-spring town at the mountain's foot.

1. zhumadian chaya mountain

A slow morning at the hot-spring town below Chaya Mountain — pools, walkways and village lanes — before the drive back to downtown for a night-market dinner. Two mountain days in a row are easier on the legs this way.

1. zhumadian chaya hot spring town

Two ridgelines west of downtown in Yicheng District — Laole Mountain, a Taoist site whose main peak tops out around 800 meters, and forested Jinding, cooler in summer. Stone steps cover both, so start early.

1. zhumadian laole mountain
2. zhumadian jinding mountain

About 30 km east, the rebuilding of Nanhai Chan Temple began in 1992 with funds raised by the Taiwanese monk Ming Cheng. Tianzhong Hill keeps a stele attributed to Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqing recording Runan's old epithet as the center of the land. Overnight in the county town.

1. zhumadian nanhai chan temple
2. zhumadian tianzhong hill

Start at the Song-dynasty brick pagoda nicknamed the Shadowless Pagoda, continue to the Butterfly Lovers sites of local tradition — the legend entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006 — and end with sunset over Suya Lake, the plain reservoir completed in 1958.

1. zhumadian wuying pagoda
2. zhumadian liangzhu hometown
3. zhumadian suya lake

South to Queshan County. In the late 1930s Zhugou hosted the CPC's Central Plains Bureau and carried the wartime nickname Little Yan'an; the memorial hall and preserved courtyards document that period in photographs, documents and period furnishings.

1. zhumadian zhugou memorial

A quiet day on the reservoir south of Queshan's county town — boat decks, reed shallows and forested coves, with fish from the lake at village tables. Built in the early 1950s as part of the Huai River works, it stays far calmer than the city.

1. zhumadian boshan lake

West into Biyang County, about 1.5 hours away — a granite dome with stone steps at Tongshan and the adjacent Tongshan Lake below. It is one of the prefecture's quietest county corners, so bring lunch supplies.

1. zhumadian tongshan scenic area

Northeast to Shangcai County, where earthen ramparts mark the Western-Zhou capital of the Cai state, roughly 3,000 years old and a national heritage site. The county was also the home of Qin chancellor Li Si; a county-museum hour rounds out the day.

1. zhumadian caiguo ancient city

Half an hour south by high-speed rail to neighboring Xinyang, then a winding climb to the early-1900s villa quarter on Jigong Mountain, a summer retreat a century ago. Overnight in Xinyang's riverside center.

1. xinyang jigong mountain

South Bay Lake spreads about 75 sq km between tea hills at Xinyang's edge; the slopes grow Xinyang Maojian, counted among China's ten famous teas. A lakeside boat loop, then the HSR back to Zhumadian for a last city evening.

1. xinyang nanwan lake

A slow city day around Tianzhong Plaza and its fountain lawns, then the covered morning markets for spiced pepper soup and sesame flatbreads. Pack and sort tickets in the afternoon.

1. zhumadian tianzhong square
2. zhumadian city markets

One last breakfast in the lantern-lit quarter, a loop past the opera stage if performances are on, then the HSR from Zhumadian West — about an hour back to Zhengzhou East for connections.

1. zhumadian huangjia yizhan