Jiaozuo, The City of Tai Chi

“A Great Travelling Destination, The Origin City of Tai Chi.”

Jiaozuo (Chinese: 焦作 ; pinyin: Jiāozuò;postal: Tsiaotso) is a prefecture-level city in northern Henan Province, China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yellow River, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou  to the south , Xinxiang to the east, Jiyuan to the west, Luoyang to the southwest, and the province of Shanxi to the north.

Its population was 3,540,101 at the 2010 census whom 1,301,732 live in the built-up area made of 4 urban districts (Jiefang, Shanyang,Zhongzhan and Macun) and Bo'ai County being urbanized. Jiaozuo enjoys a humid subtropical climate with continental climate influences Winters are cool and relatively dry while summers are hot and often rainy.Average temperature ranges from 0.3 °C in January to 27.5 °C in July. Extremes exist from -22.4 °C to 43.6 °C.

Precipitation averages 659 mm.

The city was founded on an industrial site left by the British after the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–1860). Jiaozuo was established as a city in 1953. Mao Zedong has written praise about the hard work of people from Jiaozuo in the coal industry.

Natural Scenery

Jiaozuo is located adjacent to the Yellow River and is just south of the Taihang Mountain.

Yuntai Mountain

Yuntai Mountain is said to have the waterfall with main cascade of 314 meters in height,together with numerous smaller cascades.

On February 13, 2004, Yuntai Mountain as the fifth in the world, the third in the country China, was named the world's first World Geopark by UNESCO and caused attention at home and abroad. Meanwhile, Yuntai Mountain is also a national scenic spot, National Civilized Scenic Area, the first national AAAAA-level scenic spot, national natural heritage, national forest parks, national macaque nature reserve. Yuntain Mountain also has Asia's highest head drop waterfall.

The first stop on a visit to Jiaozuo must be the Mt. Tiantai Scenic Area, known as the National Geographical Park,featuring geological structure movements and hydraulic creations. The whole area is scattered with valleys, such asXiaozhai and Wenpan. Measuring 1,500 meters long and a dozen meters wide, Wenpan has currents and deep pools, and is where a gorge, 700 meters high, forms a fantastic view. Walking along plank roads on precipitous cliffs, one can clearly see the traces of geographical transformation and the effect water erosion has had on the area over the years.

Other scenic areas include the Qinglong (Black Dragon) Gorge, the Qingtian River, and Mt. Shennong. The QinglongGorge stretches for 12 kilometers, accompanied by mountains and rivers, making it an ideal summer resort.The Qingtian River is known as the Yangtze's Three Gorges in North China. Mt. Shennong is enchanting due to its steep cliffs and rare species of plants, such as the lacebark pine, and it is a state-level nature reserve.

Located in the Xiuwu county 40 km away from the northeast of Jiaozuo city, its scenic area is about 55 square km, including eight scenic areas, namely Xiaozhai Valley, Laotan Valley, Wenpan Valley, Zifang Lake, Zhuyu Peak,Baijia Crag,Wansha Temple, Source of Heaven Waterfall, etc. There are totally 36 charming and unique peaks, dozens of natural karst caves, and countless pools, waterfalls, springs, lakes. The well-known Yuntai Heaven Waterfall in China with a falling head of 314 meters lies in the Laotan Valley scenic spot.

TV-Movie Town

Located at the northern suburb of Jiaozuo city only one km away from the down town, CCTV Jiaozuo TV-Movie Town has a floorage of 150,000 square meters, ranking first in architecture scale among seven national TV-Movie towns in China, it is TV play and movies manufacture base constructed jointly by CCTV and Jiaozuo Municipal government. The town constructed against the mountain, simple and unsophisticated in shape,and magnificent in looking, the surrounding is charming, and perfect in equipment and facilities,it chiefly consists of four parts, namely town gate square, King Palace area of Zhou Dynasty, King Palace area of Chu State, town streets area.

Qingtian River

Located in Bo'ai county 31 km away from southwest of Jiaozuo city, covering an area of 45.2 square km, and consisting of five major scenic areas of 108 scenic spots, namely classic way,Lake Daquan, Yueshan Temple, Stone Buddha Beach, Fenghuang Ridge, forming a shape of rectangular. It faces the Yellow River on the south, and bordering Shanxi Province on the north, nearby Jiaozuo on the east. It's a scenic area integrated majestic, precipitous, grotesque,elegant and peaceful. And it's a comprehensive scenic area where the different kinds of tours can be conducted simultaneously, such as landscape tour,ecological tour, culture tour, and agriculture tour, it got the name "Three gorges in North China", "Lesser Guilin in North Henan".

Chenjiagou Village, Hometown of Tai Chi (Taiji) Boxing

Located in Wenxian county 70 km away from the south of Jiaozuo City, it's the origin of the Taiji Boxing. ChenBu,the founder of Chenstyle Taiji Boxing, removed from Zezhou of Shanxi Province and settled here in the 7th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty. Till late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, Chen Yuting, the ninth descendent of Chen Bu, on the basis of former Boxing of Chen family, absorbed the essences of all excellent Boxings of different families, developed Taiji Boxing in a creative way, and pushed the Taiji Boxing to a more prosperity stage.

How to Get There

Jiaozuo is the northern terminus of the Jiaozuo-Liuzhou Railway and the southern terminus of the Taiyuan-Jiaozuo Railway. The city is linked via rail to nearby cities Luoyang, Xinxiang and Nanyang in Henan and Jincheng in Shanxi.

What to Shop

Four kinds of famous herb medicines named "Huaiyao" and oil tea produced in Wuzhi County are the local specialties.