Taiyuan

Taiyuan (Chinese: 太原; Hanyu Pinyin: Tàiyuán; Wade-Giles: T'ai-yüan) is a prefecture-level city in China, capital of the Shanxi province. Taiyuan has a population of approximately 1.83 million people and a metropolitan area of about 2.93 million people. [1]

The GDP per capita was ¥12821 (ca. US$1550) in 2003, ranked no. 171 among 659 Chinese cities.

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

Taiyuan is an ancient capital, constructed by Zhaojianzi (赵简�) in ca. 500 BC, named Jinyang (晋阳). It was renamed Taiyuan in the Qin Dynasty.

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 (��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.