Taiyuan

Taiyuan, China

In any club of ancient cities, 2500-year-old Taiyuan never lacks a chance to shine.

Wander through Jinci and Jinyang Ruins; go out on an outing in Mount Tianlong; stand in awe before Xishan Giant Buddha; fortify yourself with a piping-hot bowl of traditional Daoxiaomian (sliced noodles) in a food joint of an old neighborhood. Historic sites and traditional fare will help you understand the deep mark the capital of central China's Shanxi province has left on the nation.

Getting around

• Jinci

  It's an ode to architectural art. It's a millennium-old imperial playground, the earliest of the kind in China. It's living history. Carved wooden dragons coil around pillars. A 3,000-year-old massive cypress towers over its surrounds. Murals could lull gawkers to reverie.

• Fenhe Park

  “Fenhe Wandu” (Fenhe River against the sunset) is one of the eight most celebrated sights. As the sun sinks, stroll along the banks of the Fenhe River lit up here and there and your mind will be free of all anxieties.

• Museums

  Shanxi Provincial Museum is a huge collection of ancient artifacts spanning the province's thousands of years of history. China Coal Museum is the only one of the kind in China, where its “Coal Wonderland” takes visitors down the simulated shafts for spectacular views of the underground coal mining world.

• Mount Tianlong Grottos

  It's another treasure trove of Buddhist art, home to sculptures were carved on the cliffs of Mount Tianlong 1400 years ago.

• Yongzuo Temple

  Two ancient pagodas loom over peacefully flowing Fenhe River and the surrounding bucolic villages. Temple fairs enliven the place marooned in lush vegetation.

  
  
  
• Jinyang Ruins

  The ancient town of Jinyang was something of a bond shared by the Han heartland's farming culture and the northern nomadic culture, a place which different ethnic groups called home.