La Llanura Central o Zhongyuan (chino: 中原; pinyin: Zhōngyuán) es una región sobre la cuenca baja del río Amarillo, cuna histórica del la civilización china. Forma parte de la Llanura del Norte de China. En su sentido más restringido, la Llanura central cubre lo que modernamente es Henan, el sur de Hebei, el sureste de Shanxi y la parte occidental de Shandong. En un sentido más amplio esta llanura incluría también los llanos de Guanzhong en Shaanxi, la parte noroccidental de Jiangsu y partes de Anhui y el norte de Hubei. Desde el inicio de los registros históricos, la Llanura Central ha sido una región importante dentro de la civilización china. En la era anterior al período Qin, la actual Luoyang y las áreas cercanas fueron consideradas en la tradición china el "Centro del Mundo" y fue el núcleo territorial de la dinastía Xia, localizada alrededor de Songshan y la cuenca del río Yi-Luo. Algunas inscripciones sobre objetos de bronce procedentes de esta región contienen menciones a los 'Reinos centrales' (Zhongguo), 'Reinos del este' o 'Reinos del sur'. Esto sugiere que la Llanura Central, que era refereida como los 'Reinos del centro', habrían ocupado el centro del mundo en la cosmovisión china.

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Zhongyuan (Chinese: 中原; pinyin: Zhōngyuán), Chungyuan, or the Central Plain, also known as Zhongtu (Chinese: 中土; pinyin: Zhōngtǔ), Chungtu or Zhongzhou (Chinese: 中州; pinyin: Zhōngzhōu), Chungchou, is the area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. It forms part of the North China Plain. In its narrowest sense, the Central Plain covers modern-day Henan, the southern part of Hebei, the southern part of Shanxi, and the western part of Shandong province. A broader interpretation of the Central Plain's extent would add the Guanzhong plain of Shaanxi, the northwestern part of Jiangsu, and parts of Anhui and northern Hubei. Since the beginning of recorded history, the Central Plain has been an important site for Chinese civilization. In the pre-Qin era, present-day Luoyang and its nearby areas were considered the “Center of the World”, as the political seat of the Xia dynasty was located around Songshan and the Yi-Luo river basin. Inscriptions on some bronze objects from this era contain references to the 'Central States' (Zhongguo), 'Eastern States', or 'Southern States'. This indicates that the Central Plain, which was referred to as the 'Central States' in these inscriptions, was considered to occupy the center of the world. In a broader context, the term Zhongyuan refers to Chinese civilization and China proper, regions directly governed by centralized Chinese governments and dynasties. However, when used to describe the Chinese civilization, Zhongyuan often connotes Huaxia and Han Chinese cultural dominance. The Dungans, a Chinese-affiliated ethnic group, are referred to using terms linked to Zhongyuan.

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