Taiyuan; Jinyang’s Dynasties, Shanxi’s Bankers and Scattered Buddhas

Jinyang, the walled city beneath Taiyuan, was used for 1,500 years and then suddenly burned, according to People’s Daily. Taiyuan, Shanxi’s capital, has 5.53 million residents, a coal economy and a cliff of Buddhist caves whose statues went abroad.

据《人民日报》介绍,晋阳,也就是太原脚下的古城,沿用了一千五百年,随后突然被焚毁。太原是山西省会,常住人口五百五十三万,有煤炭经济,还有一处造像流散海外的佛教石窟。

Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi, a province famous for its bankers, and has 5.53 million residents, a long fight with its own air and a cliff of Buddhist caves whose statues went abroad.

太原是山西省会,常住人口五百五十三万。山西以晋商票号闻名,而太原有漫长的空气污染治理史,还有一处造像流散海外的佛教石窟。

Jinyang was built by Dong Anyu, a retainer of Zhao Jianzi of the Jin state, roughly before 497 BCE, and took its name from its position on the north side of the Jin River, according to The Paper. It served as an early Zhao capital, an Eastern Wei seat, a Northern Qi secondary capital, a Tang northern capital and a Five Dynasties stronghold, according to People’s Daily.

据澎湃新闻介绍,晋阳城由晋国赵简子的家臣董安于所建,时间大约在公元前四九七年以前,因位于晋水之北而得名。据《人民日报》介绍,它先后做过早期赵国都城、东魏霸府、北齐别都、唐代北都和五代重镇。

The Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Northern Han were each founded with Jinyang as their base, according to The Paper. The Tang regarded it as its dragon’s birthplace, and the name “Dragon City” dates from the end of the Five Dynasties, according to the same source.

据澎湃新闻介绍,后唐、后晋、后汉和北汉都以晋阳为根基建立。同一来源介绍,唐代视其为”龙兴之地”,”龙城”之称起于五代末年。

Shanxi’s merchants invented a bank, though the story belongs to the province and not to its capital. 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. Merchant families followed his example and opened more than 500 branches across the country, according to the same source.

山西商人发明了一种银行,不过这段历史属于全省,而不专属省会。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。同一来源介绍,各路晋商家族纷纷效仿,在全国开设了五百多家分号。

Shanxi houses opened branches in Moscow and St Petersburg, and after Shanghai opened to foreign trade they handled most remittances between Shanghai and the interior for about 40 years, according to the same source.

据同一来源介绍,山西票号在莫斯科和圣彼得堡也设有分号,上海开埠后约四十年间,上海与内地之间的大部分汇兑都由它们经手。

Paul Hattaway’s China’s Book of Martyrs attributes the executions to Governor Yuxian, although historians have disputed the circumstances and responsibility for the killings. According to the same book, 46 foreign missionaries, 34 Protestant and 12 Catholic, were executed in the courtyard of the governor’s palace in Taiyuan on 9 July 1900. It also names a 15-year-old Chinese Christian, Chang Ang, among those killed.

保罗·哈特威的《中国殉道者之书》将这场处决归于巡抚毓贤的命令,但历史学界对事件的具体经过及责任归属仍有争议。据该书介绍,一九零零年七月九日,四十六名外国传教士,三十四名新教徒和十二名天主教徒,在太原巡抚衙门的院子里被处决。书中还提到,遇害者中有一位十五岁的中国基督徒常昂。

Thirty-six years later the same city hosted a secret. In October 1936 the Communist Party sent Peng Xuefeng to Taiyuan to do united-front work with the warlord Yan Xishan, according to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The secret liaison office he ran became the Eighth Route Army’s office in Shanxi after the war began, according to the same source.

三十六年后,这座城市藏着另一个秘密。据人民政协网介绍,一九三六年十月,中共中央秘密派彭雪枫到太原,与军阀阎锡山做统战工作。同一来源介绍,他主持的秘密联络处在战争爆发后成为八路军驻山西办事处。

The Tianlongshan Grottoes in the hills west of the city have 25 surviving caves and more than 500 statues, carved mainly in the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi and Sui–Tang periods, according to Science and Technology Daily. Looting in the 1920s sent most of them overseas, according to the same source. Really? Cave 8 alone is missing 20 pieces, Cave 2 is missing 19 and Cave 16 is missing 16, according to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

据《科技日报》介绍,城西山中的天龙山石窟现存二十五个洞窟、五百多尊造像,主要雕凿于东魏、北齐和隋唐时期。同一来源介绍,二十世纪二十年代的盗掘使其中大部分流失海外。真的吗?据人民政协网介绍,仅第八窟就缺二十件,第二窟缺十九件,第十六窟缺十六件。

Taiyuan University of Technology, the University of Chicago and the site office began digital restoration in 2014, according to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Researchers collected 3D data on more than 100 objects from nearly 30 museums in nine countries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and the Tokyo National Museum, and digitally restored 11 main caves, according to Science and Technology Daily. A digital museum in Cave 8 now shows the results, according to the same source.

据人民政协网介绍,太原理工大学、芝加哥大学和天龙山景区管理处二零一四年开始数字复原。据《科技日报》介绍,研究人员从九个国家近三十家博物馆采集了一百多件文物的三维数据,其中有纽约大都会艺术博物馆、大英博物馆和东京国立博物馆,并数字复原了十一个主要洞窟。同一来源介绍,第八窟里的数字博物馆现已展示成果。

Taiyuan topped a list of the world’s ten most polluted cities, of which seven were Chinese, compiled by the Asian Development Bank with Tsinghua University, according to The Nanjinger’s report of 22 January 2013. That ranking is more than a decade old. More recent provincial figures point to improvement, though they are not specific to Taiyuan. According to Science and Technology Daily, Shanxi’s air-quality index fell for eight consecutive years. The same report recorded 89 heavily polluted days at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period and seven during January–October 2025, although the reporting periods differ.

据《南京人》二零一三年一月二十二日的报道,亚洲开发银行与清华大学编制的全球十大污染城市名单中,太原居首,十个城市中七个在中国。这份排名已是十多年前的事。较新的全省数据表明空气质量有所改善,但并非太原市单独的数据。据《科技日报》介绍,山西省空气质量综合指数连续八年下降。该报道还分别列出”十三五”末的八十九个重污染天和二零二五年一至十月的七天,不过两个数字的统计时段并不相同。

Coal still shapes the economy. Taiyuan’s GDP reached ¥538.245 billion in 2025, growing 1.3 percent in real terms, and coal mining and washing still accounted for 25.3 percent of value added among large industrial enterprises, according to the municipal statistics bureau.

煤炭依然塑造着这里的经济。据太原市统计局介绍,二零二五年太原地区生产总值五千三百八十二点四五亿元,按不变价计算增长百分之一点三,煤炭开采和洗选业仍占规模以上工业增加值的百分之二十五点三。

Taiyuan is growing despite more deaths than births. At the end of 2025 it had 5,526,060 residents, up 11,392, but births were 36,060 against 41,474 deaths, a natural growth rate of minus 0.98 per thousand, and 90.40 percent lived in urban areas, according to the Taiyuan Statistics Bureau’s population survey.

太原的人口仍在增长,尽管死亡人数已经超过出生人数。据太原市统计局的人口抽样调查,二零二五年末全市常住人口五百五十二万六千零六十人,增加一万一千三百九十二人,但出生三万六千零六十人,死亡四万一千四百七十四人,自然增长率为千分之负零点九八,城镇人口占百分之九十点四零。

The fastest Beijing–Taiyuan high-speed train listed by Ctrip for 13 October 2026 was the G379, from Beijing Fengtai at 08:56 to Taiyuan South at 11:14, taking 2 hours 18 minutes, with a second-class seat at ¥224. Since 1 July 2014 the Datong–Xi’an line has cut Taiyuan to Xi’an from about 10 hours to about three, according to Ifeng.

据携程二零二六年十月十三日的时刻表,最快的北京至太原高铁是G379次,八点五十六分从北京丰台出发,十一点十四分到达太原南站,用时两小时十八分,二等座二百二十四元。据凤凰网介绍,二零一四年七月一日起,大西高铁让太原至西安从约十个小时缩短到约三个小时。

According to People’s Daily, excavators have confirmed that the western city of Jinyang was laid out in a big T shape, and protective shelters now cover Building No. 2 and Site No. 4 of an ancient city that spreads across about 20 square kilometres.

据《人民日报》介绍,考古人员已确认晋阳西城是”大丁字”形格局,如今保护棚覆盖着二号建筑和四号遗址,这座古城遗址占地约二十平方公里。