Ruzhou Voyage Tips and guide

Ruzhou is a county-level city in central and western Henan Province, managed by Pingdingshan City. It is named after the North Ruhe River, which runs through it. It borders Yuzhou and Jiaxian to the east, Baofeng and Lushan to the south, Ruyang and Yichuan to the west, and Dengfeng to the north. It is located between the Zhengzhou and Luoyang metropolitan areas, with significant geographical advantages;As a colorful pottery jar with storks, fish, stone axes, and painted pottery, it possesses the "Three Treasures of Ruzhou" (Ru porcelain, "Ru Tie", and plum blossom jade), and Ru porcelain is the top of the five famous porcelain of the Song Dynasty. Ru porcelain town has also promoted the integration of traditional culture and modern tourism.

In terms of industrial development, Ruzhou has formed a pattern dominated by equipment manufacturing, machine embroidery and textile, and biomedicine. With the support of enterprises such as Tianrui Group and Julong Biotechnology, it has become the largest railway heavy-duty locomotive alloy steel parts production base in Asia and an important L-tryptophan production base in the country.

Ruzhou, a pearl in western Henan with millennia of culture and scenic beauty, is bordered by Songji Mountain north, outer mountains south, and crossed by Ruhe River north. With over 1,400 years of history since the Sui Dynasty, it boasts "Ruzhou Three Treasures" — top-tier Song-era Ru porcelain, national treasure calligraphy "Ru Tie", and rare plum blossom jade. It is also the birthplace of traditional Chinese opera, home to Fengxue Temple (one of Central China’s "Four Great Temples") with ancient pagodas and pavilions, and linked to Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple; the Neolithic Stork Fish Stone Axe Painted Pottery Jar witnesses its early civilization. Today, Ruzhou thrives with "Wan Gu Shen Tang" hot springs (comparable to France’s Vichy), the "strange slope" wonder, ecological flower seas and parks, blended traditional skills and modern industries in Ruci Town, and local delicacies like "eight bowls" and braised noodles. It has evolved from a Han-Tang royal favorite to a livable modern city, continuing its cultural and ecological legacy.

The ancient Ruzhou Zhili Prefecture, now central Henan’s Ruzhou City, was established as Yizhou in 584 AD (Sui Dynasty), renamed Ruzhou later, became a southeast gateway of Tang’s Luoyang with troops, was promoted in Song, directly governed in Jin, made a Zhili Prefecture (equivalent to a prefecture) independent of Nanyang in 1476 AD (Ming), retained as such in Qing (called "Old Ruzhou" or "Ruzhou Prefecture by folks"), and remained a provincial-direct Zhili Prefecture for over 400 years as part of Henan’s "Eight Prefectures and One Zhili Prefecture".

The Ruzhou dialect belongs to the Mandarin branch of the Northern Chinese language family and is classified under the Wanru sub-dialect (Southern Route Dialect). It is mainly spoken in Ruzhou City, Henan Province, and the surrounding areas of the "Old Ruzhou" region during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

• Geographically, it is close to the Zhengzhou dialect but differs from the Ruyang dialect, which bears characteristics of the Luoyang dialect.
• Phonetically, it has 24 initial consonants, 40 vowels, and four tones—level tone (yinping), rising tone (yangping), falling-rising tone (shangsheng), and falling tone (qusheng).
• It preserves the distinction between "jianyin" (palatalized initials from ancient alveolar consonants) and "tuanyin" (palatalized initials from ancient velar consonants), and features systematic contracted sounds such as the transformation of "一儿 (yī'ér)" into "yier24".

• Vocabulary: It has a large number of "erhua" words (words with the retroflex suffix "-er") and words with the prefix "圪 (gē)".
• Grammar: The auxiliary word "了 (le)" serves the functions of three auxiliary words—"的 (de, possessive/attributive marker)", "地 (de, adverbial marker)", and "得 (de, complement marker)". The word "都 (dōu)" is used instead of the adverb "在 (zài, indicating location)".
• Word formation includes five categories: onomatopoeia, sound change, and explanatory formation, resulting in regional expressions such as "点补 (diǎnbu, meaning 'to have a snack')" and "修树股 (xiū shùgǔ, meaning 'to prune tree branches')".

• The dialect originated in the core area of Central Plains Mandarin and retains linguistic features of western Henan from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
• In modern times, influenced by population mobility and the popularization of Mandarin, its inheritance faces challenges.
• Relevant studies suggest protecting it through measures such as establishing a dialect database and promoting cultural festivals.

Map of Ruzhou

• 36.083927114.4481081 Fengxue Temple and Tallinn (风穴寺及塔林), Fengxue Temple and Tallinn are located in Huangzhuang Village, Qiling Township, Ruzhou City, Henan Province (Departing from Ruzhou Railway Station, passing through Shuangyong Road, Dream Avenue, and Guliang Avenue to arrive; The entire journey is 11.1 kilometers and takes about 22 minutes), ☏ +86-375-697-9077. 8:00-20；00. (updated Oct 2025)
• 24.86118.582 Zhanggongxiang Kiln Site (张公巷窑址), The intersection of Zhongda Street and Zhanggong Lane in the southeast of Ruzhou City, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province (Bus: Take the Feixian Bus Route, departing from Feixian and passing through Shangye and Niulan. During weekends and holidays, buses run every 30 minutes and get off near the Zhanggong Kiln site. Taxi: Take a taxi from Feixian County to get there, which costs about 50-80 yuan and takes about 10 minutes. Self driving: Take the Beijing Shanghai Expressway, get off at the Feixian exit, then drive along Guanghua Road for about 5 kilometers, turn right to reach the Zhanggong kiln site.). 8:00-20；00. (updated Oct 2025)
• 21.02105.843 Faxing Temple Pagoda (法行寺塔), No. 20 Tashi Street, Ruzhou City, Pingdingshan City (Self driving: Departing from the People's Government of Ruzhou City, the journey is about 1.1 kilometers and takes about 3 minutes to arrive.). (updated Oct 2025)
• 34.164647112.8366034 Ruzhou Confucian Temple (汝州文庙). (updated Oct 2025)

Ruzhou City belongs to the warm temperate continental monsoon climate, with distinct four seasons. Spring is warm and the temperature rises rapidly, with drought and little rainfall;Summer is hot, with concentrated rainfall and mostly southeast winds;Autumn is cool and sunny;Winter is cold, with sparse rain and snow, and more northerly winds. The annual average temperature is 14.8 ℃;The highest temperature was 44.6 ℃ (June 20, 1966) and the lowest temperature was -18.2 ℃ (January 31, 1969).The annual average sunshine hours are 2222.0 hours, and the annual average frost free period is 223 days.The annual average precipitation is 635.3 millimeters, with a maximum annual precipitation of 1170.9 millimeters (1964) and a minimum annual precipitation of 255.2 millimeters (2012).