Nearly a thousand years ago while Europe was in Dark Age, Kaifeng had been the biggest, most prosperous city of the world, the capital of Song Dynasty.  If you've read "DongJing Meng Hua Lu"(東京夢華錄), you will know the grandeur of Kaifeng city then.  (In college when I selected History of Song, our professor introduced the book to us, and he even purchased a photocopied one and lent it his students, so I did read it, though not throughly.)  The book illustrates the pomp of city walls, temples, moats, bridges, ditches, palaces. official bureaus, ceremonies, arts and techniques, commercial activities, cultures, and so on, everything.  Some historian think it's reasonable to assume that Northern Song Dynasty was then in the dawn of industrial revolution, which could have been much earlier than that happened in Europe. 

Not any more, and Kaifeng now is just a mediocre city in Henan.  You may ask how about its relics left for descendents?  Nothing, except a 13-storied "iron" tower.  The tour guide told us the downfallen city had been attributed to wars and continual inundation from Yellow River that flooded the city through years.  Most likely someday people will find the relics buried deep underground of the city.  (There aren't any high-rise apartments or buildings in the city; probably the government intends to protect the underground city of Kaifeng.) 

There are also some "attractions"; namely Bao Zheng Shrine for one of the mayors of Kaifeng(包公祠) and a theme park that imitates the prominent painting "清明上河圖".  Well, I don't feel like visiting those places, especially that park which is too commercial.  But where is that genuine painting now?  In Taipei?