Shanxi

Shanxi (Chinese 山西, pinyin Shānxī^{? /i}) is a province in the north of the People's Republic of China. It is occasionally confused with the neighbouring western province of Shaanxi (Chinese 陝西 / 陕西, pinyin Shǎnxī), as the pronunciation of the names differs only in the tone of the first syllable.

Because of its location west of the Taihangshan Mountains, the province bears the name Shānxī, which means west of the mountains. The abbreviation of the province is Jin (晉 / 晋). Jin is the name of an ancient Chinese state that was located in the Shanxi area.

Geography

Shanxi lies between the North China Plain and the middle course of the Huáng Hé River, which borders the province to the west and south. To the north, the Great Wall of China runs along the border. Neighboring provinces are Shaanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Hebei to the east and Inner Mongolia to the north.

A large part of the province is higher than 1000 m above sea level. Mountains account for 67.5% of the province's area and are located mainly in the northeast. Important mountains are Lüliang Shan (up to 2831 m), Taihangshan (up to 2322 m), Wutai Shan (up to 3058 m), Heng Shan (up to 2017 m) and Taiyue Shan (up to 2567 m). Shanxi is located in the east of the Loess Plateau.

The climate in Shanxi is cold and dry. The annual average temperatures are about 5 °C in the north and about 15 °C in the south. In the north, only four months are frost-free. In the south there are seven. The annual precipitation increases from northwest to southeast and amounts to 350 to 700 mm. About 60 % of the precipitation falls in summer.

Important rivers are Huang He, Fen He, Sanggang He and Hutuo He.

Important cities besides the capital Taiyuan are Datong, Yuci, Yangquan, Changzhi, Linfen, Jincheng and Yuncheng.

History

Shanxi is one of the cradles of Chinese culture. Among other things, the early Xia dynasty emerged in Shanxi in the Neolithic period. Especially the fertile south of the province with its loess soils belonged to this core. The archaeological findings in the north of the province prove the development of this area by the Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 BC).

During the period of the contending empires, the region first belonged to the Kingdom of Jin (capitals in Linfen and Quwo, among others), then to the Wei and Zhao Empires. After the unification of the empire by Qin Shihuangdi, this territory was a permanent part of China. Under the Han dynasty, the mining of the coal deposits near Datong (Tatung) began.

The Tang Dynasty (618-907) originated in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Due to the historical significance or the influence and strength of the Tang Dynasty in history, the term "Tang Ren" (唐人, Tángrén - "People of the Tang Era") became synonymous with Chinese in general in the Chinese language. During the Tang Dynasty, the region was called Hedong (河東 / 河东, Hédōng), literally "east of the (Yellow) River". Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female ruler, was born in Shanxi Province.

During Ming and Qing dynasties, Pingyao city was the financial center of China. In 1556, Shanxi Province was also affected by the severe earthquake in Shaanxi. Several million people died in the famine of 1876-79. Around 1900, the Boxer Rebellion spread to Shanxi, and since the 1911 revolution, the province has been ruled and rebuilt by the military governor Yan Xishan. In the Second Sino-Japanese War, the province was occupied by the Japanese from 1937 to 1945. In 1947, the communists under Mao Zedong, whose base was in neighboring Yan'an, took power.