Taiyuan is an ancient city with more than 2500 years of urban history, dating back from 497 BC. It was the capital or secondary capital (, ) of
Zhao,
Former Qin,
Eastern Wei,
Northern Qi,
Northern Jin,
Later Tang,
Later Jin,
Later Han,
Northern Han. Its strategic location and rich history make Taiyuan one of the economic, political, military, and cultural centers of Northern China. In 497 BC, the first ancient city of Jinyang was built around the southern Jinyuan District of present-day Taiyuan, by Dong Anyu (), who was a steward of (), an upper-level official of the state of Jin. During the
Battle of Jinyang in 453 BC,
Zhi Yao diverted the flow of the Fen River to inundate the city of Jinyang, caused significant damage to the Zhao. Later,
Zhao Xiangzi alerted Wei and Han, who both decided to ally with Zhao. On the night of 8 May 453 BC, Zhao troops broke the dams of the Fen River and let the river flood the Zhi armies, and eventually annihilated the Zhi army, with the help from Wei and Han. The
Tripartition of Jin happened in 403 BC, when the state of Jin, then a strong power in Northern China, was divided into three smaller states of
Han,
Zhao and
Wei. This event is the watershed between the
Spring and Autumn and
Warring States periods in Chinese history.
Qin dynasty In 248 BC, the
state of Qin attacked Zhao under General
Meng'ao, and obtained the area around Jinyang from Zhao. Qin set up the
Commandery of Taiyuan (), with the city of Jinyang as its administrative center. Although, the name
Taiyuan had appeared in historic records before, potentially referring to different regions in nowadays southern and central
Shanxi, this was the first time
Taiyuan was officially used to refer to present-day Taiyuan.
Jin dynasty and Sixteen Kingdoms During the
Jin dynasty, Taiyuan was again changed into a vassal state. Following the ending of the Jin dynasty,
ethnic minority peoples settled a series of short-lived sovereign states in northern China, commonly referred to as
Sixteen Kingdoms. Taiyuan was part of
Former Zhao,
Later Zhao,
Former Qin,
Former Yan,
Former Qin again,
Western Yan, and
Later Yan chronologically. In 304,
Liu Yuan founded the
Xiongnu state of
Former Zhao, whose army raided the area around Taiyuan for years and eventually obtained Taiyuan in 316. In 319, Taiyuan became part of
Later Zhao, founded by
Shi Le. Later, Taiyuan was obtained by
Former Yan in 358, and by
Former Qin in 370. Fu Jian died in 384. His son
Fu Pi declared himself an emperor in 385, with Jinyang (central city of Taiyuan) as the capital. But the next year, Fu Pi was defeated by the
Western Yan prince
Murong Yong in 386, and Taiyuan became part of Western Yan.
Southern and Northern Dynasties Grottoes, currently in Museum Rietberg, Zürich|center In 386,
Tuoba Gui founded
Northern Wei. In 396, Northern Wei expanded to Taiyuan. In 534,
Eastern Wei was founded by
Gao Huan, with the capital at the city of
Ye, and Taiyuan as the alternative capital (), where the Mansion of the "Great Chancellor" Gao Huan () was located. In 577, Taiyuan was conquered and became part of
Northern Zhou.
Sui dynasty In 581,
Emperor Wen of Sui founded
Sui dynasty. Jinyang was first the administrative center of Bing Zhou (), which was changed into
Taiyuan Commandery. In 617,
Li Yuan rose in rebellion based in Taiyuan, and expanded quickly.
Tang dynasty In 618,
Li Yuan founded
Tang dynasty, which is generally considered a golden age of Chinese civilization. Taiyuan expanded significantly during the Tang dynasty, partly because Taiyuan was the military base of the founding emperors
Li Yuan and
Li Shimin. As
Li Shimin wrote in 619: "Taiyuan, the base of the imperial regime and the foundation of the state." () In 690,
Wu Zetian set Taiyuan as the Northern Capital, (), one of the three capitals, along with
Chang'an and
Luoyang, as depicted in the poem by
Li Bai: "The king of the heaven has three capitals, the Northern capital is one of them." (""). In 936,
Shi Jingtang established
Later Jin in Taiyuan with the help from
Khitan Liao dynasty. The next year, Shi Jingtang moved the capital from Taiyuan to
Luoyang, and then to
Kaifeng, and Taiyuan became a provisional northern capital ("Beijing") again.
Song dynasty Zhao Kuangyin (
Emperor Taizu of Song) established the
Song dynasty and embarked on the campaign of re-unification of China. Using a power struggle at the
Northern Han court
Taizu moved against it in the late 968. By early 969 his armies encircled Taiyuan and defeated the reinforcements sent by the
Khitan. However, an attempt to flood the city failed. The siege was lifted after three months, as heavy rains caused diseases in the besieging army, the supplies were running low, and another
Khitan relief force was advancing towards the city. During the
Song period many people, including the family of chancellor
Wang Anshi, migrated south.
Yuan state The Mongol empire emerged in 1206 under the leadership of
Genghis Khan, and it expanded quickly. In 1218, Taiyuan was conquered by the Mongol army led by General
Muqali.
Kublai Khan established the
Mongol empire in 1271, and the administrative area of Taiyuan Lu () was expanded. The Taoist
Longshan Grottoes was built in early Yuan dynasty, initiated by Taoist monk Song Defang ().
Ming dynasty In 1368,
Hongwu Emperor established the
Ming dynasty, and Taiyuan was obtained from Yuan, by General
Xu Da. The Ming dynasty installed
Nine Military Garrisons to defend the northern territory during the reign of the
Hongzhi Emperor, which included the Garrison of Taiyuan ().
Shanxi merchants became prominent in Chinese business history since the beginning of Ming dynasty, thanks to the logistic requirements of the military around the borders of northern Shanxi to defend Ming against the remnant Mongol
Northern Yuan dynasty.
Qing Throughout the Qing regime, the international trade with Russia, especially of tea, and the creation and development of so-called draft banks, or
Piaohao, boosted the central Shanxi basin to become the financial center of Qing China. Even though most of these Piaohao were based in different neighboring counties of
Qi County,
Taigu, and
Yuci, Taiyuan became a significant trading center, due to its political and economical status in Shanxi. In 1900, the
Taiyuan Massacre occurred, during which angry Chinese killed European children and their missionary parents with axes.
Republican era The warlord
Yan Xishan retained control of Shanxi from the
Xinhai Revolution in 1911 to the end of the
Chinese Civil War in 1949. Taiyuan consequently flourished as the center of his comparatively progressive province and experienced extensive industrial development. It was linked by rail both to the far southwest of Shanxi and to
Datong in the north. Until the end of the
Chinese Civil War in 1949, Yan's arsenal in Taiyuan was the only factory in China sufficiently advanced to produce field artillery. In 1923, Yan facilitated the construction of the province's first airport,
Taiyuan Chengbei Airport, which allowed him to further develop a small Air Force. Because Yan succeeded in keeping Shanxi uninvolved in most of the major battles between rival warlords that occurred in China during the 1910s and 1920s, Taiyuan was never taken from Yan by an invading army until the
Japanese occupied it in 1937. in 1937 Yan was aware of the threat posed by the Japanese; and, in order to defend against the impending Japanese invasion of Shanxi, Yan entered into a secret "united front" agreement with the Communists in November 1936. After concluding his alliance with the Communists, he allowed agents under
Zhou Enlai to establish a secret headquarters in Taiyuan. Yan, under the slogan "resistance against the enemy and defense of the soil", attempted to recruit young patriotic intellectuals to his government from across China. By 1936 Taiyuan became a gathering point for anti-Japanese intellectuals who had fled from
Beijing,
Tianjin, and
Northeast China. A representative of the Japanese army, speaking of the final defense of Taiyuan, said that "nowhere in China have the Chinese fought so obstinately". From the Japanese occupation of Taiyuan to the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Japanese continued to exploit Taiyuan's industries and resources to supply the Japanese army. After the Japanese army in Shanxi surrendered to Yan Xishan, 10,000–15,000 Japanese troops, including both enlisted men and officers, decided to fight for Yan rather than return to Japan. Yan also retained the services of experienced and foreign-educated Japanese technicians and professional staff brought into Taiyuan by the Japanese to run the complex of industries that they had developed around Taiyuan. Taiyuan was the last area in Shanxi to resist Communist control during the final stages of the
Chinese Civil War. The communists forces captured
Taiyuan Wusu Airport. As a result, the defending forces were trapped within the city, facing food shortages and a low
morale.
Taiyuan Qinxian Airport and an adjacent barracks was subsequently established in October 1948 in the Dayingpan area of the city, which was able to accommodate transport aircraft, while the barracks garrisoned the Second and Third Battalions. The existing Chengbei Airport was also reinforced, and two temporary backup airfields were established at Gelaogou and Honggou. The city was taken by Communist forces on 22 April 1949, after they surrounded Taiyuan and cut it off from all means of land and air supply, and taking the city required the support of 1,300 pieces of artillery. Many Nationalist officers committed suicide when the city fell to a Communist army. ==Geography==