Taiyuan’s Today
3 min readHistory
Taiyuan is an ancient city once known as”the Dragon City.”It is the ancestral home of the Wang lineage（one of China’s most common names）.During the last few imperial dynasties Shanxi was famous for its merchants and the early banks（piaohao）that made their trade so successful and profitable.
Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi Province in the north-central part of China，with a population of around 2 million.Shanxi is the largest producer of coal in China，accounting for one third of total coal production in the country.Shanxi also has large iron ore reserves.Taiyuan is a major heavy industrial center of China.
Its industries include coal mining，iron and steel production，chemical production.
construction material，machinery production，electricity generation.
In 1998，Taiyuan was designated as the first pilot city by NDRC（formerly SETC）and SEPA in the project of“Promotion of Cleaner Production Demonstrative Provinces and Cities”.Since then，Taiyuan has actively led in this field，by adjusting its economic structures，by its”blue sky and clear water”initiative，by hosting conferences and by a number of CP demonstration projects in its many industrial enterprises.
During the year 2000，Taiyuan became the first Chinese city to introduce cleaner production regulations to guide investment in that city.These regulations provide a framework for Taiyuan to carry out cleaner production，and also provide a model for other provinces and cities.
Economy
The GDP per capita was 12821 Yuan（US $1550）in 2003，ranked No.171 among 659 Chinese cities.In 2005，Taiyuan’s nominal GDP was 89.55 billion Yuan，a growth of 14.7%from the previous year.It is increased 8%in the year of 2006.Taiyuan’s primary，secondary，and tertiary industries were worth 2 billion Yuan，43.07 billion Yuan，and 44.48 billion Yuan respectively.There are several big companies are in city of Taiyuan.
Today，Taiyuan is one of China’s most important industrial capitals.An important transportation hub，Taiyuan lies within easy reach of Beijing by rail and highway，and provides an important link to destinations further west and south.
Lying relatively near the inland stretches of the Bohai Sea，important ports such as Qingdao and Tianjin are also more accessible to Taiyuan than many other interior capitals.
Taiyuan differs little on the surface from other inland cities-the same massive redevelopment trend，shopping streets and office building developments.
Communication and Transportation
Taiyuan is one of the traffic hubs of North China，with more than 50 domestic flight routes and flights at least every week to and from Beijing，Shanghai，Guangzhou，and other large cities in China.Passengers can also go from Taiyuan to almost every corner of China by train.The city has eight national highways and four expressways，and the Taiyuan-Jiuguan Expressway shortens the trip between Taiyuan and Beijing to five hours.
Taiyuan enjoys convenient communications facilities.Telephone users in Taiyuan can direct-dial every cities in China and in 260 countries and regions around the world.Taiyuan has cooperated with 30 countries including the United States，England，France，and Japan to develop international express delivery services.The roads in urban Taiyuan total 1243 kilometers，and the city has 1350 buses and 8300 taxis.The public supplies of tap water and liquefied gas cover more than90 percent of the total area of Taiyuan，and the public heating supply covers 55.2 percent.There are over 20 parks in urban Taiyuan.The lawn space comes to 5.73 square meters per person，and 24 percent of the city is covered with vegetation.
