The Huan River (), or Anyang River (), is a river in Henan,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and part of the Hai River basin. The river rises north of Linzhou in northwestern Henan, and joins the

Wei River The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization. The source of the Wei River is close to ...

near Neihuang in the northeast of the province. The site of

Yinxu Yinxu (modern ; ) is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the identification of the earliest known Chines ...

, in the village of Xiaotun within present-day

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It ha ...

on the south bank of the river, has been identified as the last capital of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty an ...

, occupied between the 13th and 11th centuries BCE. A walled city and palace complex at Huanbei on the north bank, occupied in the second half of the 14th century BCE, was destroyed at the time Yinxu was built. The river's name, Huan 洹, has been in use for more than 3,000 years. The character was recorded on both Shang-era

oracle bones Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for ...

and bronze vessels.

Notes

Bibliography

* * Rivers of Henan Anyang {{China-river-stub