南阳市

Why this place

Nanyang was the birthplace of the Han emperor Guangwu and the home of Zhang Zhongjing, the physician whose treatise forms the basis of Chinese herbal medicine — there is a temple to him here that is a pilgrimage site for practitioners. The city also holds a superb Han-dynasty stone-carving collection.

What to see

• The Zhang Zhongjing temple and tomb, the 'medical sage' of Chinese medicine
• The Nanyang Han Painting Museum, with Han tomb reliefs and stone carvings
• The Funiu Mountains and the Xixia dinosaur-egg site, which is one of the largest in the world
• Dengzhou and the Dushan jade workings

What to eat

• Nanyang is known for its beef soup and its 'three-soup' breakfast culture
• Henan braised dishes and the local wheat foods

Best time

April–May and September–October