The Great “xiangsheng” artist, Hou Baolin, once made a joke about the Henan dialect. He said the dialect is China’s most concise because, you usually only need one word for anything. For instance, if someone goes to the hathroom, the conversation might go as follows: “who?” “Me?” “What?” “Pee!” The most frequent word used in the Henan dialect is, “中zhòn?”. People from Henan say “zhòn?” to profess their agreement, say “zhòn? zhòn?” to demonstrate reluctance and say ‘zhòn?zhòn?zhòn?” to show apathy.

The origin of ninety-seven of the 120 most frequently used Han Chinese surnames came from the Henan Province. The majority of these 120 surnames relate to three ancient Chinese tribes, the Huang Di, the Yan Di and Dong Yi. These tribes were mainly active in the area known today as Henan Province, which were all based in Henan. In a sense, it could be said that all Han Chinese, both mainland and overseas, originated from Henan.