Experience the best of Luoyang

Luoyang was a capital under many dynasties, among them the Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han and Tang, on the Luo River plain, south of the Yellow River. The Longmen Grottoes, south of the city, hold thousands of Buddhist statues and inscriptions carved into limestone cliffs above the Yi River, with the giant Vairocana Buddha at the centre. White Horse Temple, founded in the first century AD, is traditionally regarded as the first Buddhist temple in China.

The Luoyang Museum displays glazed Tang-dynasty pottery and finds from the ancient capitals, and Guanlin Temple is a tomb shrine to the general Guan Yu. Shaolin Temple, the famous kung fu monastery, lies in the Songshan mountains to the east. The Luo River, celebrated in Chinese poetry, runs through the city.

Luoyang's water banquet, a sequence of soups and hot dishes served one after another, is the city's best-known meal, and lamb soup served with flatbread fills the street stalls. Summers are hot, winters cold and dry, and autumn is clear. In April the peonies bloom, and the city's peony festival fills its parks with colour.