Taiyuan is a prefecture-level city and the capital of Shanxi province, China. In 2004, the city had a population of 3.4 million.
Taiyuan is one of the great industrial cities of China and lies on the Fen River in the north of its fertile upper basin. It commands the north-south route through Shanxi, as well as important natural lines of communication through the mountains to Hebei province in the east and (via Fenyang) to northern Shaanxi province in the west.
Taiyuan has a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons. 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. There tends be considerable diurnal variation in temperature, and readings can range from under -20C to over 40C.
The city had been deliberately flooded several times in 453 BC, 969 AD, and was also destroyed by war in 1125 AD. |
