Taiyuan City

Taiyuan was called Jinyang in ancient times, Bing for short, with a history of more than 2500 years. It is not only an old city with profound culture, but also a modern one full of vigor and vitality.
Located in the central part of Shanxi Province, Taiyuan is surrounded by mountains in the east, west and north. Fen River, the second largest tributary of the Yellow River, flows throughout the city from north to south. Taiyuan is a warm temperate zone continental monsoon climate with distinct four seasons in one year. The climate is relatively mild without severe cold winter and searing summer.
Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, is the center of politics, economy, culture, science and technology, education and information of the province. With a total population of 5.391 million and an area of 6909km², Taiyuan governs 6 districts, 3 counties and 1 city.
In 2021, the GDP of Taiyuan is up to 512.16 billion RMB, up 9.2% over the previous year, the added value of industries above scale is up to 457.6 billion RMB, with a net increase of 119.3 billion RMB; the growth rate of foreign trade volume reached 52.9%; and the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents increased by 8% and 9.6% , respectively.
Taiyuan has profound culture. Up to now, the written document about Taiyuan first appeared in 497 BC, it was the Spring and Autumn Period in China. During its over 2500-year history, Taiyuan used to be the birthplace of Tang Dynasty( 618 AD-907AD), and the capital or the alternative capital of 9 kingdoms or dynasties. Li Bai, the great poet in Dang Dynasty once praised Taiyuan, that is: “there were 3 capitals in Tang dynasty, Taiyuan is one of them”. As “the prosperous city and the strategic fortress in Tang Dynasty, all the citizens of Taiyuan are elites or talents”. Taiyuan is the famous cultural city in north China. It produces lots of great statesmen, poets, writers and calligraphers in the history of China, such as Di Renjie, Bai Juyi, Wang Zhihuan, Wang Wei, Mi Fei, Yuan Haowen, Luo Guanzhong, Fu Shan (狄仁杰、白居易、王之涣、王维、米芾、元好问、罗贯中、傅山) and so on and so forth. Taiyuan is the business center for Shanxi merchants too. Bestowed with unique geographic location, Taiyuan merchants made a big fortune and became the pioneers of Shanxi merchants and representative of Shanxi Commercial culture. They had done business in Eurasia, and dominated the market for 500 years. Taiyuan merchants write a brilliant page in the business history in China, even in the world.
Taiyuan is rich in natural resources, particularly the mineral resources. Its metal mines mainly are iron, magnesium, manganese, copper, lead, aluminum etc. Among them, iron and magnesium reserves the most. The total reserve of iron in Taiyuan is up to 670 million tons, and the output capacity of magnesium of Taiyuan amounts to 30% in that of the world. The non-metallic minerals are coal, gypsum, sulfur and vitriol and so on, particularly the coal and gypsum.  The reserve of gypsum mine reaches 60.79 million tons. The coal reserve area in Taiyuan covers 1318 km2, amounts to one fifth of the whole area in Taiyuan. So Taiyuan won the title of “ coal and iron town”.
The traffic of Taiyuan is very convenient. As one of the traffic hub in north China, Taiyuan Wu Su (太原武宿) International Airport is first-class air port opening to the outside world, which approved by the State Council of China. Wu Su Airport is the alternative airport of Beijing International Airport too. At present, Taiyuan opens 154 domestic and international airlines. The railway transportation in Taiyuan is very convenient too. It can directly go to all the main cities in China. Taiyuan as the center of the highway, it links cities and villages in and out the province. And now, Taiyuan has formed a traffic network of 10 roads from north to south plus 10 streets from east to west and three ring roads. (In Taiyuan, its traffic network is well-planned, you can easily distinguish the directions of one road, just from its name. The direction of a road is from north to south, we call it lu in Chinese or road in English, the one from east to west, we call it jie in Chinese or street in English.)It is very convenient from Taiyuan to Beijing. There are 11 flights every day from Taiyuan to Beijing, it only takes 45 minutes. Passengers can choose train to Beijing too. There are 16 express trains per day. It takes only 3 hours arrive at Beijing by express train. Besides that, there are shuttle buses from Taiyuan to Beijing every 20 minutes. It takes 5 hours to reach Beijing.
Taiyuan boasts abundant tourism resources. Its long history left a great deal of historic relics in Taiyuan. According to the statistics, there are 89 state, provincial and municipal level main historic preservation sites in Taiyuan, including ancient architectures, grottoes and sculptures, painting and frescos. They become the favorite places for the visitors to go sightseeing, appreciate and research the ancient art.
Jin Ci (晋祠) has the largest ancient royal garden and temple architecture in China. The twin-pagoda in Yong Zuo (永祚) temple is the outstanding representative of Chinese ancient architecture, as well as the symbol of Taiyuan city. Meng (蒙) mountain Buddha is the earliest recorded and largest open-air cliff stone Buddha in the world. Tian Long Shan (天龙山)grotto is one of the 10 famous grottoes in China. It occupies an important position in the sculpture history in the world. There are 500 stone Buddha and 1144 relievos and portraits in Tian Long Shan (天龙山)grotto, covering the works of 5 dynasties. So it got the name of “the art treasure of oriental sculpture ”. Long Shan (龙山)grotto is China’s existing largest Daoism grotto too, which keeps relatively complete. There are 8 niches and over 40 statues. Chun Yang (纯阳) Palace, is an ancient Daoist temple architures, which is very delicate and exquisite. Yu Hong (虞弘) tomb is one of the 10 new archaeological discoveries in China in 1999. It provide rich and precious information which reflecting the exchanges between China and the central Asia counties, and the culture exchanges between the east and the west. Xu Xianxiu (徐显秀)tomb is one of the 10 new archaeological discoveries in China in 2000. The 300 m² color murals of the Northern Dynasties and over 500 fine implements in the tomb caused a sensation among the cultural circles at home and abroad. The bronze unearthed in Zhao’s tomb, an important official in the spring and autumn period, is certainly a rare treasure in the Chinese bronze art. The exquisite fresco in Lou Rui tomb fills in the blank of art history of the northern and southern dynasties in China.
Taiyuan has a solid industrial foundation. It has formed a complete range of industrial system. Taiyuan has a group of large and medium-sized enterprises, which have a relatively great influence in China. Taiyuan Iron and Steel Corp is one of the largest stainless steel producers in the world, with the most advanced technology and equipment. It is the largest stainless steel producer and special steel production base in China with an annual output capacity of 4.5 million tons. As one of the top 500 companies in China, Shanxi Coke Group is the leading energy enterprise in Taiyuan. Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Company, as one of the top 100 machine-building enterprises in China, is the biggest production base of manufacturing large cranes and other mechanical products in China. Foxconn, one of the top 500 enterprises in the world, set up Foxconn Science and Technology Industrial Park in Taiyuan. It is the biggest Taiwanese investment project in Shanxi Province. And now, Foxconn Taiyuan Park is focused on the research and development and production in the aluminum and magnesium alloy and other new-type materials and build up the world's largest aluminum magnesium alloy processing base and aluminum magnesium alloy automobile parts manufacturing base. Taiyuan Chang’an Heavy Vehicle Co., Ltd is the largest product base for heavy-duty vehicles, with an annual whole line output capacity of 50,000 units. It will become another leading manufacture company in Taiyuan. And now, Taiyuan Railway Equipment Manufacture Industrial Park is under way.  ZHIBO LUCCHINI RAILWAY EQUIPMENT CO., LTD, Jinxi Industrial Group, Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Company and China CNR Corporation Ltd will be the backbone in this park. In this regard, Taiyuan can shape the first-class railway equipment industrial cluster in China with international influence and strive to build up the largest railway equipment manufacturing base in China.
Taiyuan has a profound culture and a better industrial foundation. Nowadays, under the leadership of Central Committee of the CPC and the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee, the CPC Taiyuan Municipal Committee and Taiyuan Municipal Government are following the direction of the spirit of the19th CPC National Congress, keeping on working with great determination to write a new chapter of civilization, open, rich and beautiful Taiyuan.