Why it looks like this

Zhengzhou is doubly a crossroads city. The modern one was made by rail: the north–south Beijing–Guangzhou line crosses the east–west Longhai line here, and the junction turned a modest town into Henan's capital and one of China's great logistics hubs — its station area among the busiest anywhere.

The ancient one is still visible: rammed-earth walls of a Shang dynasty capital, roughly 3,600 years old, run for kilometres right through the modern city — parks and lanes follow the ancient ramparts, so the newest kind of Chinese boom town sits directly on one of the oldest cities on Earth.