Taiyuan Travel Guide

Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi Province. It is reputed as a colorful and glorious Taiyuan City since the ancient time.

Taiyuan, called Jinyang in ancient times, is an ancient city. It was initially established in 497 B.C. as Jinyang city, and in the early Warring States Period was the capital of Zhao State. Though it was later reduced to a municipality under the auspices of the Qin Emperor (Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of China), it rose again a thousand years later as the capital of the Tang Dynasty, whose ascension marked the beginning of what is known as the zenith of ancient Chinese culture.

Basic Information

Area Code: 0351
Zip Code: 030001

Geography: Taiyuan is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in North China and is surrounded by hills in its west, north and east. It covers an area of 6998 square kilometers. The Fenhe River, a key tributary of the Yellow River, runs through the territory of Taiyuan City with a long distance of 100 kilometers. Taiyuan lies in the valley basin of both mountains of the Taihang Mountain Ranges in east and the Luliang Mountain in west. It has continental climate in north temperate zone, no bitterly cold days in winter and no broiling hot days in summer, with a quite temperature difference between day and night and a long frost-free period and plenty of sunshine hours in a year.

Population: Taiyuan is one of the super cities in China . At the end of 2004, the city had a population of 3.4138 million. Now it governs one city, six districts and three counties, with 51 subdistrict offices, 488 urban community resident comnfissions, 54 town- ships, 1030 rural resident commissions and 1794 villages. 

Administrative Division

Climate

Taiyuan experiences a semi-arid climate. Spring is dry, with frequent dust storms, followed by early summer heat waves. Summer tends to be warm to hot with most of the year's rainfall concentrated in July and August. Winter is long and cold, but dry and sunny. Because of the aridity, there tends be considerable diurnal variation in temperature, except during the summer. Conditions are much cooler than comparable-latitude cities, such as Shijiazhuang, due to the moderately high altitude.