Taiyuan, a historic city in the north, is the provincial capital of Shanxi Province. It is one of the new industrial bases of China, having various industries such as metallurgy, coal, engineering, chemicals, electronics and textiles.

With a population of 3.4138million, covering an area of 6,988 square kilometers, Taiyuan is situated in the central Shanxi plain surrounded by mountains with the Fen River running through the city. Formerly called Jinyang, it was originally built at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period with a history of over 2,400 years; at the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it used to be the spare capital of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi. The once flourishing Tang Dynasty originated from Jinyang, which was called the northern capital when Changan was made the capital of the Tang regime. On account of its long history, there are many cultural relics and places of interest in the Taiyuan area.

Jin Memorial Temple was built in commemoration of the first king Tang Shuyu of the Kingdom of Jin. The temple is famous for the magnificent architectures of the Song Dynasty, the exquisite figures of maidservants and its beautiful garden.

Chongshan Temple at the east end of the city is said to be originally the temporary dwelling place of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and its extensions were made on the old site in 1381 in Ming Dynasty by the son of Zhu Yuanzhang to commemorate his mother. The extant Hall of Great Mercy is the most typical Ming style architecture that has been well preserved with high artistic value. The design of the figure of avalokitesvara with one thousand hands and one thousand eyes is indeed grotesque and spectacular.

The two Ming dynasty brick towers standing loftily at the southeast end of the city, both over 50 meters in height, are regarded as the symbol of Taiyuan. The district has been turned into a park open to the public.

The Chunyang Palace, which forms part of Shanxi museum, was originally the temple for offering sacrifices to the Taoist Priest Lu Dongbin. Now there are twenty-one showrooms exhibiting chinaware, bronze, jade articles bamboo, woodland ivory carvings stone sculptures, calligraphy, paintings, rubbings from stone inscriptions, enamelware, Lacquer ware etc. Altogether there are over two thousand articles on display from the ancient earthenware of the Yangshao culture to the cultural relics of the successive dynasties. In fact all the cultural relics of Shanxi province as one of the cradles of the Chinese civilization in the middle reaches of the Huanghe River are gathered here for the benefit of tourists. 

Administrative districts of Taiyuan:
There are 6 districts, 3 counties and 1 county-level city are under the administration of Taiyuan Municipal Government, including Yingze District, Wanbailin District, Xinhualing District, Jiancaoping District, Puyuan District, Xiaodian District, Qingxu County, Yangqu County, Loufan County, and Gujiao City.