Yellow River Museum

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.

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 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.

Has a theme park inside with a quaint Ferris Wheel that is worth riding.

Museum inside a rather garish double pagoda that looms over February 7 Square. Inside there are exhibits explaining the city's development.