• Shanxi introduction

  • Jin is short for Shanxi province. It lies in Huabei in China. It is 150,000 square kilometers in area and with a population is 29.2 million. 

    Shanxi located in the East of Huangtu Plateau. In Shanxi, the eastern and western parts are hilly lands. And in the middle

    part, there are some basins. The hilly areas, plateaus and hilly lands occupy 72 percent. And the basins occupy 28 percent. The rivers here belong to two river systems, they are the Yellow River and the Hai River. The biggest tributary of the Yellow  River is Fen River. It has a semi-dry continental monsoon climate in the temperate zone. The reserves of coal and bauxite are amongst the first places in China. Shanxi abounds in iron ore, there are also copper, sulphur and salt. 

    The basins here are the main agricultural region. The most important products are wheat, corn, cotton and peanut. The animal husbandry centralizes in the northwestern part. Shanxi is the base of coal industry. The produces of heavy machinery and textile are amongst the important places in the whole country. Also, there is iron and steel, electric  power, chemical industry, textile and food. The communication mainly is railway. And the highway here is convenient too. 

    The historic reserves in Shanxi are abound. The places of interest here are Jin Ancestral Hall in Taiyuan, Yungan Cave in Datong, Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao, Hanging Temple in Hunyuan, Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River, Wutai Mountain and Heng Mountain. The traditional specialties are Fen wine, Zhuyeqing wine, Qingxu vinegar and Changzhi ginseng.

    Recommended Scenic Spots

    Mt. Wutaishan

    Located in Wutai County, Shanxi Province, Wutai Mountain is a famous scenic spot under state protection and is one of the countrys four well-known Buddhist shrines and the only Chinese mountain mentioned in Buddhist scriptures.

    In the mountain area, spring arrives in April, and snow falls in September, and even in mid-summer, it is cool and pleasant. Therefore, the mountain is called a "cool platform" and has been regarded as an ideal place for escaping summer heat since ancient times.

    During the reign of the Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 -220) efforts started to cut into the mountain and build temples there. Construction lasted 1,900 years, sometimes busy and sometimes not. Today, there remain a total of 76 temples on the mountain, ranking first in China. 

    Pingyao Ancient Town

    Pingyao, 90km southward from Taiyuan, is a small town in central Shanxi Province with a history of 2,700 years. It was first built during the reign of King Xuan (827-782 BC) of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

     

    Pingyao Ancient Town is famous for its ancient city wall, which was built in 1370, with a total length of about six kilometers. The town is protected by a city moat, both three meters deep and wide. Outside the city gate is a drawbridge.

     

    Within the city, four big streets and eight small streets radiate to join with 72 lanes. The 3,797 original quadrangle residential houses are all of the same black-colored bricks and gray-colored tiles. Out of the total, over 400 of these courtyard houses are still well preserved.

     

    There are also temples of varying size and old-fashioned stores. The earliest bank in China, Piaohao (a firm for exchange and transfer of money) was born in Pingyao. During the fairly long period of late 19th century and early 20th century, merchants from Shanxi Province nearly dominated all finance in China. While playing an outstanding role in business circles, they painstakingly built the eye-catching courtyards one after another, thus came into being the typical house culture of Shanxi.

     

    Pingyao boasts plenty of cultural relics. Outside the town are the well-preserved Shuanglin Temple, built in 571, Xiaoxu Temple, built in 657, Thousand-Buddha Hall of Zhengguo Temple and Dacheng Hall of the Wenmiao Temple, built in 963, and the Huiji Bridge, built in 1671.

     

    The old town of Pingyao went on the list of world cultural heritage in 1997.

     

    Lingtong Temple

     

    Situated between Tayuan Temple and Bodhisattva Temple, Lingtong Temple is the largest temple in the Wutai Mountains and enjoys the longest history among the temples around Taihuai.

     

    Jinci Temple

    Jinci Temple is located at the source of the Jin River by Xuanwang Hill, 25km southwest of Taiyuan. It was estimated that the temple was originally built between 1023 and 1032, but in the later years, the temple was repaired and restored repeatedly till Qing dynasty.

    When you enter the temple, the first major structure come to you is the Mirror Terrace, a Ming building which served as an open-air theatre. To the west of the Mirror Terrace is the Zhibos Canal, which cuts through the temple complex with a bridge named Huixian (Meet the Immortals) Bridge above it. The bridge provides an access to the Terrace for Iron Statues, which displays figures cast in 1097.

    The Goddess Mother Hall is the oldest wooden building in the city as well as one of the most interesting spot in the temple complex. Inside are 42 Song dynasty clay figures of maidservants standing around a large seated statue of the sacred lady, said to be the mother of Prince Shuyu of the ancient Zhou dynasty.

    Next to the Goddess Mother Hall is the Zhou Cypress, an unusual tree which has supposedly been growing at an angle of about 30 for the last 900 years.

    The famous Zhenguan Baohan Pavilion lies in the north of the temple grounds, in which four stone steles inscribed with the handwriting of the Tang Emperor Tai Zong are contained. In the south of the temple grounds is the Sacred Relics Pagoda, a seven storey octagonal building constructed at the end of the 7th century.