Taiyuan

Taiyuan (tī-yüän), city (1994 est. pop. 1,642,300), capital of Shanxi prov., N China, on the Fen River, in one of the world's richest coal and iron areas. It is a mining and smelting center with a large iron and steel complex and plants making heavy machinery, chemicals, plastics, fertilizer, cement, paper products, and processed foods. Taiyuan is connected by rail with Beijing. An ancient walled city, it fell to the Communists in 1949 after a siege in which thousands starved. Shanxi Medical College is in the city. Taiyuan was formerly called Yanggu.

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Taiyuan

 or T'ai-yüan

City (pop., 2003 est.: 1,970,300), capital of Shanxi province, China, lying on the Fen River. Known since the time of the Zhou dynasty, it was a strategic centre and administrative capital in the time of the Mongols (12th–14th century). In 1900 it was the scene of a massacre of foreign missionaries during the Boxer Rebellion and was one of the first areas to oppose the emperor in 1911. Invaded by the Japanese in 1937, it was again besieged by communist forces in 1948–49. One of the most important industrial cities in China, it produces cement, iron and steel, and coal. It also is an education and research centre. There are notable cave temples from the Tang and Yuan eras in the area.

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Taiyuan, T'ai-yüan

a city in N China, capital of Shanxi: founded before 450 ad; an industrial centre, surrounded by China's largest reserves of high-grade bituminous coal. Pop.: 2 516 000 (2005 est.)

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T’aiyüan 

a city in China. Situated on the Fen River, a tributary of the Huang Ho. Administrative center of Shansi Province, with municipality status. Population, 1.35 million (1970).

T’aiyüan is a transportation junction and an important industrial center of the country. Industry includes ferrous metallurgy and heavy machine building, mainly the manufacture of mining equipment, machine tools, and electric machinery and the repair of locomotives and railroad cars. Chemicals, textiles, leather, and foodstuffs are also produced. Coal is mined in the vicinity of the city.

T’aiyüan, one of the most ancient cities of China, was first mentioned in documents from the Western Chou era (11th to eighth centuries B.C.). In the seventh century A.D. it became the banking center for Shansi merchants and moneylenders. In 1644 the city was captured by the rebel army of Li Tsung-jen. During the reign of the Manchu (Ch’ing) dynasty (1644–1911), it was the most important city of Shansi Province. From November 1937 to August 1945, T’aiyüan was occupied by Japanese aggressors. It was liberated from Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang regime by forces of the People’s Liberation Army on Apr. 24, 1949.

T’aiyüan has numerous architectural monuments, including the Chin ssu temple complex (sixth to 17th centuries). Near T’aiyüan is the cave temple of T’ienlung Shan, which dates from the sixth century.