Taking one's breath away

"Home to the Yellow Emperor, where Buddha's light shines forth from Longmen and Shaolin's kungfu is known to all under heaven welcome to Henan province."

This is the grand greeting you get on your cellphone as you step off the train in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou.

Henan, of course, is the birthplace of the Yellow Emperor or Huangdi, legendary progenitor of the Chinese people. Along the banks of its Yi River are the ancient Longmen Grottoes, one of the finest repositories of Buddhist cave art.