Taiyuan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taiyuan (Chinese: 太原; pinyin: Tàiyuán; Wade-Giles: T'ai-yüan) is a prefecture-level city in China, capital of the Shanxi province.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Economy
5 Tourism
6 Sister cities
7 Colleges and universities
8 External links

[edit] History

Taiyuan is an ancient capital, constructed by Zhaojianzi (趙簡子) in ca. 500 BC, named Jinyang (晉陽). It was renamed Taiyuan in the Qin Dynasty. There are several Kings come from this city, so the other name of the city is "Dragon City".

A new city was built in 562 AD, which was later linked to the old city during the Tang Dynasty (733 AD).

In 617 AD, Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin rebelled against Sui Dynasty, and founded the Tang.

The oldest existing building in the city is the Temple of Goddess (聖母殿) inside the Jin Ci Complex; it was originally built in 1023 AD and reconstructed in 1102 AD.

The city had been deliberately flooded several times: 453 BC, 969 AD, and was destroyed by war in 1125 AD.

During Ming Dynasty, the city wall was reconstructed in 1568 AD.

[edit] Geography

Taiyuan is located between 111°30' East and 113°09' North, at the northern end of the Loess Plateau. It has a total area of 6,988 km². [1]

The Fen River, a tributary of the Yellow River, flows from north to south through the city, and five bridges, the Yingze Bridge, the Yifen Bridge the Shengli Bridge, the Nanneihuan Bridge and the Changfeng Bridge, link the eastern and western parts of the city.

[edit] Demographics

Taiyuan has an urban population of approximately 1.83 million people and a metropolitan area of about 2.93 million people. [2]

[edit] Economy

The GDP per capita was 12,821 yuan (US$1,550) in 2003, ranked no. 171 among 659 Chinese cities. In 2005, Taiyuan's nominal GDP was 89.55 billion yuan, a growth of 14.7% from the previous year. Taiyuan's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 2 billion yuan, 43.07 billion yuan, and 44.48 billion yuan respectively. There are several big companies are in City of Taiyuan. Such as Tai Yuan Steel LTD. [3]

[edit] Tourism

Tourist attractions in and around Taiyuan include [4]:

Chongshan Monastery
Jinci Temple
Twin Pagoda Temple
Mount Wutai
Shuanglin Monastery
Liu Xiang

Also, Taiyuan is known for its Liuxiang shopping district and the construction of parks and recreational areas on both sides of the Fen River that are specifically praised by the UN Environmental Programme for its role in the improvement in the environmental condition of Taiyuan. Taiyuan's environmental improvement project is being copied in many other Chinese cities and urban areas around the world.