Zhongyuan

Literally the 'Central Plain' or 'Middle Plain', an area of northern China, comprising the river basins and alluvial plains of the Wei River and the Yellow River east of its confluence with the Wei. Capitals of the Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, and Northern Song dynasties are in this plain and the Zhongyuan area is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Chinese civilization.

[Chung-yuan], Literally the Central Plain, an area of North China, comprising the river basins and alluvial plains of the Wei River (central Shaanxi province) and the Yellow River east of its confluence with the Wei (southern Shanxi, northern Henan, southern Hebei, and western Shandong). Capitals of the Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang and Northern Song dynasties all lay near one river or the other, and the Zhongyuan area is traditionally and probably rightly regarded as the birthplace of Chinese civilization. The lower Yangzi region can claim equal status as a centre of Neolithic origins (see Yangshao, Longshan).