Shanxi

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by several mountain ranges - the Wutaishan 3058m/10,033ft, the Luliangshan 2831m/9288ft, the Zhongtiashan 2359m/7739ft, the Taiyueshan 2347m/7700ft, the Hengshan 2017m/6617ft - and basins (some at only 300m/984ft). The River Fenhe flows through a valley from north to south; in parts it broadens into a basin.

Shanxi has a predominantly continental climate, influenced by monsoons; the winters are cold, the summers not very hot. The average temperature is between 6 and 14°C. Rain falls mainly between July and September; annual amounts are between 4-6cm (1-2 in).

Shanxi can look back over a long and turbulent history. Because of its strategically important position the district was always a guarantor of power for the kingdoms of central Asia - the Jin (265-420), the Northern Wei (386-534) and the Northern Qi. Liu Yuan, the founder of the Tang dynasty, overran the Sui dynasty from Taiyuan. The foundation of the province dates from the 14th C.

Shanxi is the leading Chinese province for coalmining; also mined here are iron, titanium, vanadium, silver, zinc and copper ores. Apart from iron-ore smelting important branches of industry include engineering, cotton manufacture, and chemical and food production. Arable farming is mainly based in the Fenhe valley, in the center of the Shanxi basin, and in the Xin Xian basin, its success depending on artificial irrigation. Crops include grain (wheat, millet, maize), soya beans, cotton, hemp, sugar-beet, tobacco and groundnuts. Cattle, donkeys, and mules are kept as draught animals.