Forêt de stèles de Hanyuan de Chine

The China Hanyuan Stele Forest in Kaifeng is a large cultural park combining classical Chinese gardens with one of the country's most ambitious contemporary collections of inscribed stone steles. Located just east of Millennium City Park and immediately adjacent to Longting, the site is organised in two main sections: a landscaped garden area and a long corridor of stone tablets. Two gates, north and south, give access to the respective zones, and the layout allows visitors to enter from either side and exit from the other without backtracking.

The garden portion follows the conventions of classical Chinese landscaping. Pathways wind around two small artificial lakes, Hanyuan Lake and South Lake, with pavilions, bridges, and rockeries placed to offer framed views and quiet sitting spots. The planting and architecture are in the Jiangnan-influenced style often seen in Chinese garden parks, rather than the drier northern imperial style, which gives the grounds a softer, more contemplative character than the busier historical sites nearby.

The core of the park, however, is the stele corridor. The collection gathers examples of Chinese calligraphy spanning many centuries, engraved onto stone tablets and assembled into a continuous covered walkway. Styles range from the solemn clerical script of the Han period through the polished regular script of the Tang and the expressive cursive forms of later dynasties. For visitors interested in calligraphy, the park functions as an open-air textbook of the art, allowing close comparison of different hands and periods within a single walk.

For international visitors without Chinese, the literal content of the inscriptions will be inaccessible, but the visual variety of the scripts and the atmosphere of the corridor are still rewarding, and the gardens alone justify a visit. Hanyuan is often paired with Longting and Millennium City Park as part of a walking circuit through Kaifeng's central cultural district. Allow about ninety minutes for a relaxed pace, more if you have a particular interest in calligraphy or plan to photograph the grounds.