Jinzhong; Pingyao’s Bankers, a Lingshi Mine and the City at Taiyuan’s Door

Jinzhong holds Pingyao, where China’s first piaohao opened in 1823, and Lingshi, where at least 25 miners died in 2006 at a mine with an expired licence, and its Yuci district is half an hour’s drive from Taiyuan’s main urban area.

晋中有平遥,中国第一家票号一八二三年在这里开业;也有灵石,二零零六年一座执照过期的煤矿里至少二十五名矿工死亡;而它的榆次区离太原主城区只有半小时车程。

Jinzhong is the Shanxi city next door to Taiyuan, with 3.29 million residents of its own.

晋中是紧挨太原的山西城市,自有三百二十九万居民。

Jinzhong is a separate prefecture-level city from Taiyuan, with its own census count, yet its Yuci district is tied to the capital by a 15-minute traffic circle.

晋中与太原是各自独立的地级市,有各自的人口普查数字,但晋中的榆次区与省会之间已构成十五分钟交通圈。

According to China News Service of 21 September 2022, Taiyuan and Yuci sit within one 15-minute traffic circle, while Taigu, Qixian and Shouyang join Taiyuan in a 30-minute circle. As of September 2022, thirteen roads had integrated access and seven more were being advanced, and Jinzhong was supporting Taiyuan’s expansion to the south and extension to the east, according to the same source.

据中国新闻网二零二二年九月二十一日报道,太原与榆次处在一个十五分钟交通圈内,太谷、祁县和寿阳与太原则构成半小时交通圈。同一来源介绍,截至二零二二年九月,已有十三条道路实现一体化通行,另有七条正在推进,晋中在支持太原”南拓””东延”。

Yuci lies about a half-hour drive from Taiyuan’s main urban area, according to Xinhua of 28 October 2026. Jinzhong had 3,379,498 residents at the 2020 census against 3,249,425 in 2010, according to Shanxi’s census bulletins, and the count does not include Taiyuan’s residents.

据新华社二零二六年十月二十八日报道,榆次距太原主城区约半小时车程。据山西省人口普查公报,晋中二零二零年人口普查时有三百三十七万九千四百九十八人,二零一零年为三百二十四万九千四百二十五人,这一数字不包括太原的居民。

Jinzhong’s GDP reached ¥246.26 billion in 2025, up 4.5 percent in real terms, and its resident population fell by 44,016 to 3,294,517, with 64.89 percent living in urban areas and the tertiary sector at 54.2 percent of GDP, according to the Jinzhong Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

据晋中市统计局介绍,二零二五年晋中地区生产总值二千四百六十二亿六千万元,按不变价计算增长百分之四点五,年末常住人口三百二十九万四千五百一十七人,比上年减少四万四千零一十六人,城镇人口占百分之六十四点八九,第三产业占地区生产总值的百分之五十四点二。

Rishengchang, regarded as China’s first piaohao, was founded in 1823 in Pingyao by Lei Lütai, chief manager of the Xiyucheng dye shop, who wanted a way to move cash between Sichuan and the northern branches without carrying it, according to China News Service.

据中国新闻网介绍,日升昌被视为中国第一家票号,一八二三年由西裕成颜料庄大掌柜雷履泰在平遥创办,他想办法不必运现银就能在四川与北方分号之间调拨资金。

Yuci Old Town was founded in the second year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, more than 1,400 years ago, and is one of the few well-preserved ancient county seats in China, according to Xinhua of 28 October 2026. The Chang Manor is known as China’s first house of Confucian merchants, according to the same source.

据新华社二零二六年十月二十八日报道,榆次老城始建于隋开皇二年,距今一千四百多年,是中国为数不多保存完好的古县城之一。同一来源介绍,常家庄园被称为”中国儒商第一家”。

Hougou ancient village, in Yuci and more than 30 kilometres from Taiyuan’s urban area, has a drainage system more than 3,000 metres long that has not silted up in a thousand years, according to the same source.

同一来源介绍,榆次的后沟古村距太原市区三十多公里,有一套长三千多米的排水系统,一千年来从未淤塞。

Jin Caishen Town was built on a former limestone quarry, and over 100 costumed performers walk its streets by day, with water-and-light shows at night, according to the same source. Really? Visitors collect banknote-style tokens to exchange for gifts, according to the same source.

同一来源介绍,晋·财神小镇建在一座废弃的石灰石采石场上,白天有一百多名角色扮演者在街上走动,夜里有水光秀。真的吗?同一来源介绍,游客可以收集仿纸币代币兑换礼品。

At least 25 miners were killed in an early-morning blast at the Nanshan Colliery in Lingshi County on 13 November 2006, according to RTÉ. Xinhua blamed the improper use of explosives at the village-run mine, while CCTV said its safety licence had expired and that it had already been ordered to halt production, according to the same source. A coal-dust explosion killed more than 50 people at another Lingshi mine in July that year, according to the same source.

据爱尔兰广播公司报道,二零零六年十一月十三日凌晨,灵石县南山煤矿发生爆炸,至少二十五名矿工遇难。同一来源介绍,新华社认为原因是这座村办煤矿违规使用炸药,中央电视台则称该矿安全许可证已过期,并已被责令停产。同一来源介绍,当年七月灵石另一座煤矿的煤尘爆炸造成五十多人死亡。

The Zhengzhou–Taiyuan high-speed line opened on 12 December 2020 and cut the Zhengzhou–Taiyuan journey from nearly 4 hours to about 2.5, according to The Paper. The third-phase expansion of Taiyuan Wusu Airport is among the projects Jinzhong is supporting with roads and resettlement work, according to China News Service.

据澎湃新闻报道,郑太高铁二零二零年十二月十二日开通,郑州至太原的旅行时间从近四小时缩短到约两个半小时。据中国新闻网报道,太原武宿机场三期扩建是晋中以道路和安置工作配合支持的项目之一。

According to The Paper, the first train to leave Taiyuan South when the line opened was the D4665 to Zhengzhou, and Jinzhong, the Shanxi city next door to Taiyuan, held its own opening ceremony that day.

据澎湃新闻报道,郑太高铁开通时从太原南站发出的第一趟列车是开往郑州的D4665次,而紧挨太原的山西城市晋中,当天也举行了自己的开通仪式。