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Photo: Windmemories, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This monolithic pyramid-shaped museum is worth a visit (the main building is under renovation as of August 2019, but the museum is still open). Learn about ancient civilizations in the area (most of which were not based in Zhengzhou, but nearby cities such as Kaifeng and Luoyang), and even see a dinosaur bone or two in the area. The museum is one of the three key museums in China along with one in Beijing. If you are into modern art, this is not the place for you. It generally has acceptable squat toilets on the first floor. There is an English audio tour you can rent, and there are cheapish lockers to store your stuff. Come to see old pottery from the Song dynasty, old bells, bronzes, things like that, but anything more recent does not have English captions. Don't miss the Ivory cabbage. Across the street is a coffee house that makes ok tea and coffee for about ¥30 and has comfortable chairs.
The Henan Museum, located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, is a history and archaeology museum. It has a collection of more than 130,000 pieces of cultural relics through the ages. In addition to its collection of human history the museum is also home to many relics of natural history including dinosaur bones and fossils. Henan Museum's present building, which opened in 1997, occupies an area of more than 100,000 square feet, with a total floor space of 78,000 square feet.
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郑州市动物园
More depressing than it is impressive in any way. Some of their imported animals include turkeys and coyotes which might be interesting for a local but hardly for a foreigner. If you generally enjoy zoos, you may very well walk away sad at how the animals are cared for, or not in this case.
人民公园; Rénmín Gōngyuán, Renmin Park
Has a theme park inside with a quaint Ferris Wheel that is worth riding.
二七纪念塔
Museum inside a rather garish double pagoda that looms over February 7 Square. Inside there are exhibits explaining the city's development.
郑州文庙
The Zhengzhou Confucius Temple is a historical building complex dedicated to Confucius. The first temple was built here in the first century AD, and it has been rebuilt several times after being damaged or destroyed by wars and fires. The Dacheng Hall, dating from the Qing Dynasty, is the main historic building in the complex, while many of the other buildings are modern reconstructions. The Dacheng Hall, which dates from the Qing Dynasty, is the main building of historical value. The other buildings that make up the complex are largely modern reconstructions.
商城遗址, 商都遗址公园 Shang Capital Ruins Park
You can see remnants of the wall in the east side of town. Be warned: these mounds are not terribly impressive.
如意湖; Ruyi Hu
The centrepiece of the Zhengzhou New Area, surrounded by an impressive ring of modern apartments, malls and office towers, including the Henan Arts Centre, and crowned by a JW Marriott designed like a Chinese lantern. The area is lit up in a charmingly tacky fashion at night.