Regions & prefectures
ChinaRegions & prefectures
Shanxi
Coal, the bankers of old and the oldest Buddhist grottoes of northern China.
- Capital
- Taiyuan
- Status
- Province
- Region
- North China
- Must-see
- The walled city of Pingyao
- Local specialty
- Knife-shaved noodles, Shanxi vinegar
Shanxi mines close to a quarter of China’s coal, a recent wealth that follows another: in the nineteenth century the piaohao banks of Pingyao controlled money transfers across the whole empire from this small provincial town, still intact behind its walls. The Yungang grottoes, carved from 460 near Datong, line up fifty-one thousand Buddhist statues in sandstone.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
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