Shanxi

- Total - Contribution to PRC

156.8 thousand km ² 1.63%

- Total 2010 - Density

34.27 million inhabitants 211 inhabitants / km ²

Shanxi? / I (Chinese山西) is a province in the northern part of the People's Republic of China. Occasionally it is with the western neighboring Shaanxi Province (in Chinese陕西/陕西, Pinyin Shǎnxī ) confused as to the pronunciation of the name differs only in the tone of the first syllable.

Because of its location west of the Taihang Shan mountain range, the province is named Shanxi, indicates west of the mountains. The abbreviation of the province Jin (晋/晋) is the name of an ancient Chinese state, lying in the field Shanxi.

Geography

Shanxi is located between the North China Plain and the middle reaches of the Huang He, which limits the province in the west and the south. In the north of the Great Wall along the border runs. Neighboring province to the west is Shǎnxī ( Shaanxi ), in the south of Henan, Hebei in the east and the north Inner Mongolia.

A large part of the province is higher than 1000 m above sea level. Mountains make up about 67.5 % of the area of the province and are primarily in the Northeast. Important mountains are Lüliang Shan (up to 2831 m), Taihang Shan (up to 2322 m), Mount Wutai (up to 3058 m), Heng Shan ( 2017 m) and Taiyue Shan (up to 2567 m ). Shanxi is located in the eastern part of the Loess Plateau.

The climate in Shanxi is cold and dry. The temperatures are averaged over the year in the north at about 5 ° C and in the south at about 15 ° C. In the north, only four months are frost-free. In the south there are at least seven. The annual precipitation decreases from northwest to southeast and is from 350 to 700 mm. Approximately 60 % of the precipitation falls in the summer.

Important rivers are Huang He; Fen He; Sang transition Hutuo He and He.

Major cities beside the capital Taiyuan Datong are, Yuci, Yangquan, Changzhi, Linfen, Yuncheng and Jincheng.

Demography

At the 2002 census were 32,368,083 members of the Han nationality, which are 99.68 % of the population is counted. Other ethnic groups include the Hui with 0.19 % of the population, the Manchus with 0.04 %, 0.03 %, and the Mongols with the Miao with 0.01 %.

Economy

The province has very rich deposits of coal and other raw materials, such as bauxite, copper, aluminum and sulfur. The coalfields account for 37 percent of the area and are home to Shanxi with 200 billion tons of one-third of China's coal deposits. Coal from Shanxi will be delivered and sold in more than 20 provinces, direct-controlled cities and autonomous regions. Furthermore, the production of steel, mechanical engineering, the chemical industry and the textile industry, cotton export, important sectors of the economy.

In agriculture, the cultivation of wheat, millet and gaoliang ( a sorghum ) in the terraced fields of meaning, and the pig.

The gross domestic product in 2003 was 245.7 billion RMB and 7410 RMB per capita per year.

In June 2007, police freed in Shanxi and Henan hundreds of slave laborers, including dozens of children, from coal mines and brick factories. It included mainly job seekers from rural areas in Henan, who had fallen into the clutches of illegal employment agencies.

Administrative Divisions

At district level, Shanxi is composed of eleven prefecture-level cities:

• Taiyuan (太原市, Taiyuan Shì )
• Datong (大同市, Datong Shì )
• Yangquan (阳泉 市/阳泉 市, Yangquan Shì )
• Changzhi (长治 市/长治 市, Changzhi Shì )
• Jincheng (晋城市/晋城市, Jincheng Shì )
• Shuozhou (朔州 市, Shuozhou Shì )
• Jinzhong (晋中 市/晋中 市, Jinzhong Shì )
• Yuncheng (运 城市/运 城市, Yuncheng Shì )
• Xinzhou (忻州 市, Xinzhou Shì )
• Linfen (临汾 市, Linfen Shì )
• Lüliang (吕梁 市, Lǚliáng Shì )

History

Shanxi is one of the cradles of Chinese culture. Among other things, the early Xia Dynasty in Shanxi has emerged in the Neolithic period. In particular, the fertile south of the province with its loess soils belonged to this core. The archaeological finds in the north of the province show tapping into this territory by the Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 BC).

During the period of Warring States, the region belonged first to the Jin Kingdom ( capitals, among other things, Linfen and Quwo ), then to the rich and Wei Zhao. After the unification of the kingdom of Qin Shi Huangdi through this territory was a constant part of China. Under the Han Dynasty, the promotion of coal deposits began in Datong ( Tatung ).

The Tang Dynasty ( 618-907 ) is in Taiyuan, Shanxi province emerged. Modern Chinese call because of the power and influence of the Tang Dynasty in history, " Tang Ren ". During the Tang Dynasty, the area Hedong (河东) or was "east of the ( Yellow ) River " called. The Empress Wu Zetian, China's only empress, was born in the province of Shanxi. 1556 was affected by the severe earthquake in Shaanxi in 1556, the province of Shanxi.

In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion in Shanxi spread, and since the revolution of 1911, the province by the military governor Yan Xishan was (Yen Hsi- shan) dominates and rebuilt. 1937 to 1945 the province was occupied by the Japanese. After the war, Yan returned with the help of Japanese defector, but in 1947 took over the Communists under Mao Zedong's power, was their base in neighboring Yan'an ( Yenan ). Yan fled in 1949 (supposedly taking with the provincial office) to Taiwan, where he became premier.

For centuries Shanxi served as the center of trade and banking, the term " Shanxi Merchant" ( Merchants Jinshang ) once synonymous with wealth. The well-preserved city of Pingyao in Shanxi also shows many signs of its former dominance as a center of commerce and banks. Due to the geographical location of Shanxi in the Great China and its natural environment, Shanxi was the richest province in Zhongyuan or Center China. In the Qing Dynasty, Pingyao served as the center of Chinese banking industry. This community, in this day and age, is famous for its UNESCO ancient city walls and China 's Wall Street for its financial importance in history.

Tourism

• About the Heng Shan various monuments are scattered. Most famous is the Hanging Monastery, which was built near the Pass of the Golden Dragon on a steep cliff 30 meters above the valley floor. The incurred in the 6th century monastery consists of 40 small halls and pavilions. Supported the construction of beam structures that are anchored in rock crevices.
• 16 km southwest of Datong Yungang Grottoes are famous for its cave temples with numerous Buddhist statues from the 5th and 6th centuries. As an outstanding example of Buddhist caves and stone carving Yungang Grottoes are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001 part.
• The city of Pingyao, 80 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan, is especially known for its well-preserved city image from the Ming and Qing dynasties -. 1997 Pingyao was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Wutai Mountain is the highest point in the province. The mountain is regarded as the residence of the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri and is the most important of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism.