What is "henan"

Henan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one- character abbreviation is "" (yù), named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state ( zhou) that included parts of Henan. Although the name of the province means "south of the river", approximately a quarter of the province lies north of the Yellow River, also known as the "Huang He".

Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou which literally means "central plain land" or "midland", although the name is also applied to the entirety of China proper. Henan is the birthplace of Chinese civilization with over 3,000 years of recorded history, and remained China's cultural, economical, and political center until approximately 1,000 years ago. Numerous heritages have been left behind including the ruins of Shang Dynasty capital city Yin and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the Eight Great Ancient Capitals of China, Luoyang, Anyang, Kaifeng, and Zhengzhou are located in Henan.

With an area of , Henan covers a large part of the fertile and densely populated North China Plain. Its neighbouring provinces are Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, and Hubei. Henan is China's third most populous province with a population of over 94 million. If it were a country by itself, Henan would be the 12th most populous country in the world, behind Mexico and ahead of Vietnam.

Henan is the 5th largest provincial economy of China and the largest among inland provinces. However, per capita GDP is low compared to other eastern and central provinces, and Henan is considered to be one of the less developed areas in China. The economy continues to depend on its dwindling aluminum and coal reserves, as well as agriculture, heavy industry, tourism, and retail. High-tech industry and service sector is underdeveloped and is concentrated around Zhengzhou and Luoyang.

Henan is a province of China.

Henan may also refer to:

• Henan Mongol Autonomous County, county in Qinghai, China
• Haizhu District, commonly referred to as "Henan District", referring to its location south of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China
• Henån, town in Sweden
• 2085 Henan, main-belt asteroid

Henån is a locality and the seat of Orust Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 1,816 inhabitants in 2010.