Zhongyuan

Zhongyuan (Chinese: 中原) or the Central Plains are plains in the middle of China. It is southwest of Beijing. The Yellow River goes through it. It is where Chinese civilization originated from.

中原 Central Plain
Map showing the province of Henan and two definitions of the Central Plain or Zhongyuan
Country	China
Province	Henan
Major Cities	Zhengzhou Luoyang Kaifeng Xinxiang
Population
• Metro	~24,170,000

It is part of the North China Plain.

Since the beginning of recorded history, the Central Plain had central importance to the Middle Kingdom (China 中国).

It was considered the “Center of the World”. It was the capital of the Xia dynasty. The earliest Chinese writing, the Jiahu symbols and Jiagu writing came from here.

Zhongyuan is sometimes used to refer to all of Chinese civilization.