With the establishment of the first Yellow River dam - Sanmenxia Key Water Control Project in 1957, Sanmenxia city was built up as a newly industrial and tourist city on the ancient Shanzhou relics. According to the legend that King Yu tamed the flood and hacked the mountain into three gorges- human gate, god gate and ghost gate, Sanmenxia city obtains the name. Today, Sanmenxia city has become the economic, communicational, cultural center at the junction of Henan, Shanxi,Shaanxi provinces. 

Historical development

Sanmenxia city is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Five or six thousand years ago, large clan tribes arose here. And during the 21th ~ 13th century B.C., Sanmenxia city was the center of the Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. Sanmenxia city belonged to Guo state in the Western Zhou Dynasty, then it turned into Sanchuan county in the Qin Dynasty, then Henan official residence in the Western Han Dynasty, Hongnong county in the period of Emperor Wudi, and Shanzhou city in the Northern Wei Dynasty which was used till Ming and Qing Dynasty. It currently includes 3 town (Mianchi town, Shan town , Lushi town), 2 cities (Yima city, lingbao city), 1 district (Lake district) and Sanmenxia economic and technological development zone.

City features

Located in the western region of Henan province, Sanmenxia city is at the junction of Yu(Henan province for short), Jin(Shanxi province for short), Shan(Shaanxi province for short). Sanmenxia city borders Luoyang city in the east, Nanyang in the south, Shaanxi province in the west, and in the north, on the other side of the Yellow River, facing the Shanxi province. With a total area of 10496 square kilometers, the landform of Sanmenxia city mainly is mountain, hills and loess plateau with mountain land taking up about 54.8%, hills 36%, plain 9.2%, which is called "five mountains four hills and one plain". Most of the area are of 300 to 1,500 meters altitude with laoyacha of little qingling mountain ,the highest peak in Henan province,owning an elevation of 2,413.8 meters. 

Sanmenxia city’s downtown is located on the southern bank of the Yellow River terraces, three sides facing the sanmenxia reservoir,with built-up area of 46 square kilometers, 36.6% public green coverage , and 333 hectares water coverage all the year round.

Successively,sanmenxia city won China excellent tourism city, national garden city, the Chinese characteristic charming city, the model city for national ecological environment construction of soil and water titles.

Ecological climate

Located in the middle latitude inland area, Sanmenxia city boasts a warm temperate continental monsoon climate. The average temperature over a year is 13.2 ℃, the annual average sunshine 2,354.3 hours, the frost-free period 184-218 days, and the average annual rainfall 550-800 mm. Due to the complexity of topographical features, Sanmenxia city formed a multivariate climate of warm temperate zone, temperate zone and cool temperate zone.

The ecological environment is favorable and there are the Yawushan national forest park , the Ganshan national forest park , the Yellow River wetland national nature reserve of Henan province,the Yu Huangshan national forest park, and the giant salamander nature protection area of Lushi county and other ecological and environmental conservation.

Every winter, thousands of white swan fly here from remote Siberian to wintering. White and beautiful swans, green rippling Yellow River water and dark and thick losses  form a unique scenery.

The traffic situation

The traffic of Sanmenxia city is conveinient, the Longhai railway and Lianhuo highway traversing from east to west, 310 and 209 national highway intersecting in vertical and horizontal and it cost only 1 hour from the zhengzhou west station to xi 'an or Zhengzhou by the high speed passenger special railway line.Sanmenxia Yellow River highway bridge and the Sanyun highway connect Shanxi province and Henan province, and the Yellow River water transport can reach Tongguan directly. The upcoming Yunshi railway, Sanzhe, Zhenglu highway will form a interwining traffic cross.In that case, Sanmenxia city will soon become the transport hub of the upper Midwest.

Native special products

Native products of Sanmenxia city are of good quality and various in kind. The  apples of high quality are mostly from Si Heshan of Lingbao city and the Chinese date of Lingbao city are famous home and abroad; the apricot from Yangshao vallege of Mianchi town are unique;the Niuxin dried persimmon is the tribute in the ancient time; Lushi town’s edible fungus, hedgehog hydnum, walnut, chestnut, kiwi fruit,etc. Boast a name in the country; and the mountain area bears a name of natural pharmacy.

Mineral resources

Sanmenxia city possesses abundant minerals and it is the developing base of  precious metals and energy resources in Henan province and even the whole country. 66 kinds of minerals , 31 large-size mineral deposits and 12 medium-size mineral deposits have already been found and among which the proven reserves reaches 50 species, 31 of them ranking the top three in provinces of reverses storage. 27 kinds have been developed and put into usage among which yellow (gold), white (bauxite), black (coal) remain three big advantage of mineral resources. Proved gold reserves amount to 360 tons and the total gold resources is estimated   more than 600 tons, ranking the second in the nation; 17 kinds of mineral deposits as follow : Bauxite,coal,zinc, antimony,pyrite,quartz sandstone, glasses, arsenic, etc.pose first in Henan.

The water resources

There are more than 3,000 rivers in the city belonging to the two main water system: Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The city’s average amount of water resources is always 2.93 billion cubic meters while the Sanmenxia reservoir's capacity tops to 9.6 billion cubic meters. The hot springs of Shanxi province are rare high-quality mineral water with a temperature as high as 62 ℃  and a daily displacement of 6,000 tons ,in which exist forty-two kinds of trace elements which do good to human health.

Cultural tourism

Sanmenxie city has six National key cultural relics protection sites and twenty-five provincial level sites and libraries which collect over 70,000 pieces of cultural relics.
The three excavations ,ruins of Yangshaocun Cul-ture , Miaodigou Culture relicts, Shangyang city relicts and the tomb of Guo state, are concluded into the 100 archaeological discoveries of the 20th century in China.

The famous tourist attractions are the museum of Guo state, Hangu Pass history and culture tourist zone, Kongxiang temple, the place where Huang emperor made pot, the Yellow River tourist area, Sanmenxia dam, Yangshao grand canyon, Swan lake-the national urban wetland park, the western grand canyon, the courtyard underground, Shanzhou scenic spot, hot spring convalescent area, 24 star-rated hotels. Therefore, Henan is one of the important cities for the national level tour routes of the trip along Yellow River -- the soul of the Chinese nation and China's dynasty street tour.