Luoyang , a city in Henan province, is known as the city of peonies. S ituated on the north bank of the Luo River , it is cut by two rivers that flow into the Luo, the Jian to the west and Chan to the east.

Henan is the heart of ancient China . As far back as the Neolithic Era, the area was well populated. The capital of the bronze-age Shang Dynasty was in the present -day Anyang . Then in the 1lth century B.C., one of the Zhou kings made his temporary capital at Luoyi near Luoyang .

Since 1949, the city has grown in importance as an industrial center. It now has machine-building works, chemical factories, textile plants, glass works and a large tractor factory.