With a long history, Zhengzhou is a national famous historical and cultural city ratified by the State Council. It was an important metropolis during the Shang dynasty as early as 3500 years ago and became a capital during the five dynasties of Xia, Shang, Guan, Zheng, and Han, and a prefecture during the eight dynasties of Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The long history and brilliant civilization have made Zhengzhou rich in humanistic scenery, where there are 137 key protective units at national or provincial levels, including 26 units with 28 items of national key protective units. Places of interest with their unique charms are dawning interests and attentions of tourists from all over the world such as the Songshan Scenic Spots with Shaolin Temple, Central Holy Temple and Songshan National Forest Park as its highlight; the Yellow River Historical, Cultural and Relics Scenic Spots with the Yellow River Excursion Center, Yellow River Grand View and Dahe Village Primitive Village Remains; and Fuxi Mountain, Huancui Valley, North Song Dynasty's Imperial Tombs, North Wei's Grotto Temple, the birthplace of the Chinese Forefather Emperor Huangdi and the birthplace of famous ancient poet Dufu .In 1999, it was appraised in the first batch as one of the China's excellent tourism cities. And in 2002, the total income from the city’s tourism reached 9.45 billion yuan, up 19.2%. 9.02 million domestic tourists and 171 thousand overseas tourists were received so that 54 million US dollars were earned this year.