Yuncheng exists because of salt: a Yuan-dynasty transport office on the lake’s north bank grew into a city, the water still turns pink, orange-red and emerald, and a Tang hall in Ruicheng was a village school until the 1980s.
运城因盐而生:元代设在盐湖北岸的盐运机构发展成了一座城,湖水至今仍会变成粉红、橙红和翠绿,芮城的一座唐代大殿到二十世纪八十年代还是一所村小学。
Yuncheng is Shanxi’s southern salt city, the home town of Guan Yu and the keeper of a Tang hall.
运城是山西南部的盐城,是关羽的故乡,也守着一座唐代大殿。
The Lake That Built a City
盐湖造出的城
The Salt Lake covers about 132 square kilometres and formed some 65 million years ago, when the Himalayas rose.
盐湖面积约一百三十二平方公里,形成于约六千五百万年前喜马拉雅造山运动时期。
According to Xinhua Daily Telegraph of 19 May 2023, edible salt has been made at the lake for 4,600 years, and in the Tang dynasty its tax revenue reportedly made up about a quarter of the national salt income. It is one of the world’s three sodium sulphate-type inland salt lakes, according to the same source.
据《新华每日电讯》二零二三年五月十九日报道,盐湖产食盐已有四千六百年,唐代其税收据称约占全国盐利的四分之一。同一来源介绍,它是世界上三大硫酸钠型内陆盐湖之一。
After the Yuan dynasty was founded, the court set up a salt transport office at Zhuangcun on the north bank and built a city there, called Yunsi, later shortened to Yuncheng, the origin of the present city’s name, according to China Daily of 21 September 2026. The Chishen Temple beside the lake dates from the Tang dynasty and is more than 1,200 years old, built by order of Emperor Daizong after a rare red salt formed by itself in the water, according to the same source.
据《中国日报》二零二六年九月二十一日报道,元朝建立后,朝廷在盐湖北岸的庄村设盐运机构并筑城,称”运司城”,后简称运城,这就是今天运城之名的由来。同一来源介绍,湖边的池神庙始建于唐代,已有一千二百多年,相传湖中自然生成稀有的红盐,唐代宗下令建庙祭祀池神。
Guan Yu’s hometown, Xiezhou, lies beside the lake, and Yuan and Ming salt merchants and Shanxi merchants took him as their patron saint because loyalty and integrity were central to their trade, building Guan temples wherever they opened for business, according to the same report.
同一报道介绍,关羽的故乡解州就在盐湖边,元明两代的盐商和晋商因忠义诚信是行商之本,奉关羽为行业保护神,走到哪里就把关帝庙建到哪里。
The lake’s changing colours come from the microorganisms Dunaliella salina and halophilic archaea, which shift with temperature and salinity, according to China Daily. Edible salt production stopped in the 1980s and the lake turned to chemicals such as mirabilite, and a resident, Cao Susheng, recalls white powder blowing into homes, according to Xinhua Daily Telegraph.
据《中国日报》介绍,湖水变色来自杜氏盐藻和嗜盐古菌,它们随温度和盐度变化。据《新华每日电讯》介绍,二十世纪八十年代食盐生产停止,盐湖转向芒硝等化工产品,居民曹素生回忆,白色粉末曾飘进家家户户。
Industrial production inside the lake area stopped completely in September 2020, the Hedong Salt Museum opened in November 2021 and the city reclaimed land-use rights in and around the lake in May 2022, according to the same source.
同一来源介绍,二零二零年九月湖区工业生产全面停止,二零二一年十一月河东盐文化博物馆开馆,二零二二年五月市里收回了盐湖内外的土地使用权。
Yuncheng’s GDP reached ¥224.80 billion in 2025, up 6.0 percent in real terms, and its resident population fell by 39,600 to 4.6323 million, with 55.49 percent living in urban areas and the tertiary sector at 51.3 percent of GDP, according to the Yuncheng Municipal Bureau of Statistics.
据运城市统计局介绍,二零二五年运城地区生产总值二千二百四十八亿元,按不变价计算增长百分之六点零,年末常住人口四百六十三万二千三百人,比上年减少三万九千六百人,城镇人口占百分之五十五点四九,第三产业占地区生产总值的百分之五十一点三。
Tang Timber, Stolen Stone
唐代木构与被盗的石碑
Yuncheng has 6,205 immovable cultural relics and 102 national key protection units, according to a contributor’s post on The Paper of 9 June 2026.
据澎湃新闻湃客作者二零二六年六月九日的文章,运城有不可移动文物六千二百零五处、全国重点文物保护单位一百零二处。
The main hall of the Guangren Wang Temple in Ruicheng, also called the Wulong Temple, dates from the Tang dynasty, and its inscriptions give 831 or 832, making it one of the few surviving Tang wooden buildings in China, according to Yuncheng Release of 7 September 2022. It served as a village primary school until the 1980s and became a national key protection unit in 2001, according to the same source. Really? In December 2012 a Tang stele was chiselled off its wall and stolen, and police recovered it in 2013 in four pieces, according to Beijing Daily’s website of 21 August 2026.
据运城发布二零二二年九月七日的文章,芮城广仁王庙又称五龙庙,正殿建于唐代,碑刻记载为八三一年或八三二年,是中国现存为数不多的唐代木构建筑之一。同一来源介绍,它到二十世纪八十年代还是村小学,二零零一年成为全国重点文物保护单位。真的吗?据北京日报网二零二六年八月二十一日报道,二零一二年十二月,一块唐代石碑被人从殿墙上凿下偷走,警方二零一三年追回,碑已碎成四块。
Getting There
前往运城
According to China.com’s Shanxi site of 15 August 2025, Shenzhen Airlines launched flight ZH751 from Yuncheng Yanhu International Airport to Nagoya on 2 August that year, initially operating on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, departing at 09:10 and arriving at 14:00 local time. The first two services each carried more than 150 passengers.
据中国网山西频道二零二五年八月十五日的报道,深圳航空二零二五年八月二日开通了运城盐湖国际机场至名古屋的ZH751航班,首航时每周一、周二、周四和周六运行,九时十分起飞,当地时间十四时抵达。首航的两个班次各载客一百五十多人。
By rail, the G623 leaves Beijing Fengtai at 08:13 and reaches Yuncheng North at 13:40, taking 5 hours 27 minutes, and the D5321 leaves Taiyuan South at 09:01 and reaches Yuncheng North at 11:13, according to icauto’s undated reference timetable, so check current times before travelling.
铁路方面,据未注明日期的icauto列车时刻表参考页面介绍,G623次列车八时十三分从北京丰台出发,十三时四十分抵达运城北站,全程五小时二十七分;D5321次列车九时零一分从太原南站出发,十一时十三分抵达运城北站。出行前请核对最新时刻。
The lake that built the city still shifts between pink and emerald, according to China Daily. According to Beijing Daily’s website of 21 August 2026, the four repaired Tang and Qing stelae are now sealed inside the Ruicheng hall that was once a village school.
据《中国日报》介绍,那座造就了运城的盐湖仍在粉红与翠绿之间变换。据北京日报网二零二六年八月二十一日报道,修复后的四块唐清碑刻如今封存在芮城这座曾经做过村小学的大殿里。