Kaifung fu, or Pien-liang, the capital, is situated about a league from the southern bank of the Yellow River, whose bed is here elevated above the adjacent country. It was the metropolis from A.D. 960 to 1129, and has often suffered from attacks of armies as well as from inundations. The dikes are mostly on the northern shore, and exhibit the industry and unavailing efforts of the people for scores of leagues. During the period of the Manchu conquest Kaifung was defended by a loyal general, who, seeing no other resource against the invaders, broke down the embankments to drown them, by which manœuvre upwards of 300,000 of the inhabitants perished. The city was rebuilt, but it has not attained to its ancient splendor, if credit can be given to the _Statistics of Kaifung_, in which work it is described as having been six leagues in circuit in the twelfth century, approached by five roads, and containing numerous palaces, gardens, and government houses. The valley of the River Loh lies between the Yellow River and the Fuh-niu Mountains, a fertile, populous region wherein many of the remarkable events of Chinese history were enacted. Loh-yang, near Honan, was the metropolis at three different intervals, and probably further researches here will bring to light many ancient relics; rock-cut temples and old inscriptions, with graceful bas-reliefs, near the natural gate of Lung-măn, where the road crosses Sung shan, have already been seen. Owing to the direction of the roads leading through this region from the south and east, and the passes for travel towards the north-west, it will form a very important centre of trade in the future of Central Asia and western China.