Location: Taiyuan
Top Things to do in Taiyuan
Top Restaurants in Taiyuan
- 1. ReXian 1950 MeiShi Coffee Niu PaiFang
- 2. Quanjude Roast Duck (YingZe GongYuan)
- 3. Tang Dou ShengTai Yuan (PingYang Road)
- 4. ShanXi HuiGuan (TaiYuan ShengLi East Street)
- 5. Pizza Hut (TaoYuan)
- 6. FuRong Restaurant (ZhangFeng Jie)
- 7. Man Coffee (TaiYuan)
- 8. XiangYang YangTang Guan
- 9. Paulaner Brauhaus Taiyuan
- 10. CIAO Pizza
The 10 Best Things to Do in Taiyuan, China
Taiyuan (Chinese: 太原; pinyin: Tàiyuán [tʰâi.ɥɛ̌n], also known as Bīng (并), Jìnyáng (晋阳)) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. It is one of the main manufacturing bases of China. Throughout its long history, Taiyuan was the capital or provisional capital of many dynasties in China, hence the name Lóngchéng (龙城, "Dragon City").
Restaurants in Taiyuan
1. Shanxi Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 83 reviews
The Shanxi Museum is a wonderful provincial museum managed by the government of Shanxi Province, home of some of the oldest history in China. The museum is located in Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi, in a modern four-storey building. It was wonderful collections of old history, Chinese money, architecture, Buddhist sculptures and much more. I'd be happy to write a full description if this listing is approved. I am not an official representative of this property but have clicked the box as you should seriously consider listing it.
Reviewed By Ashok-Seenu - Singapore
This review is going to be a bit of an outlier as the Shanxi Museum generally has great reviews on Tripadvisor.
The Museum has a lot of potential but we felt it fell well short of where it could be. The building is very impressive (though we thought it a touch ugly) and a lot of money has been spent on it, which doesn't really come through in the visitor experience.
On the positive side, the museum has a great collection and is in a good location. It seems to be a large and comprehensive accumulation of artifacts from the history of Shanxi. It is also free.
It does seem to be a wasted opportunity, though, as tighter curating could have made it much more engaging. The museum is neither a collection of incredible artifacts that would dazzle even the dilettante (think Louvre) nor is it a captivating historical or cultural narrative (like the National Museum of Singapore). While the collection is thematic, it is probably of more interest to the serious student than to a casual tourist interested in the history and culture of Shanxi, as it lacks a clear narrative thread and exhibits too many similar looking (to a novice) objects. We felt many of them could have been archived for serious students and researchers, leaving perhaps half the number exhibited in the museum, with a story tying them together. Perhaps there was too much money and space, leading to a lack of disciple in putting it together. Finally, at least on the day of our visit, the audioguide was only available in Chinese.
So overall we were underwhelmed, though the museum has its good points.
2. Jinsi Temple
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 131 reviews
Reviewed By AndrewYew - Singapore, Singapore
If you just refer to a guide book, this is just an old place with some relics. Actually this place has great historical significance. Extract: "Jinci Temple was called Tang Shuyu Memorial Temple at first. It was built to commemorate the first duke of Tang State—Tang Shuyu. The historian,Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty wrote down the story—Knight Brother With A Tung Tree Leaf, in his renowned book—Shi Ji. It goes:“Tang Shuyu was the son of King Wu and the younger brother of King Cheng. King Wu died and King Cheng took the crown. At that time a rebellion broke out in the state of Tang but soon was repressed. While at play with Shuyu in a yard, the boy emperor presented Shuyu a tung tree leaf and imperiously declared that he would make him the duke of Tang State. His words were recorded by an official standing in attendance nearby. This official later reminded the emperor of his words and asked him to abide by it because emperors have no idle words. Thus, Shuyu became the Duke,”
Shuyu governed the state wisely. He made the agriculture developed at that time by using the Jin River. People lived in a happy life for more than 800 years. To commemorate the wise duke, a memorial temple was built at the most beautiful place of the Tang State, which was called Tang Shuyu Memorial Temple. Shuyu's son came into power and renamed the state Jin because his land was the source of the Jin River.
Hence, this is where the name Jin comes from—the shorten form of Shanxi Province. And the memorial temple was renamed King Jin's Memorial Temple."
As many emperor and great leaders rose from this place (too many dragon Mountains nearby etc), the temple commemorating Tang Shuyu was replaced with one commemorating his mother (no political significance) during the Song Dynasty in the hope that this place will not produce another emperor to bring down the current dynasty. This was done opportunistically after an earthquake destroyed parts of the temple and toppled the 3000 year-old tree.
The Jin State that was founded by Tang Shuyu in 11th century B.C. was partitioned at the end of the "Spring and Autumn Period" (376 BC) and marks the start of the "Warring States Period." There are also other interesting features in this garden, e.g. 3000 year-old tree, sharing of the water 7:3 etc which a good guide can tell you. Because of the great historical significance of this place, one cannot say one has visited Shanxi to a Chinese unless one has seen and understood this place.
3. Jinci Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 110 reviews
Reviewed By Tbirdt-bird444 - Hoofddorp, The Netherlands
This park has beautifull buildings from the song dynasty (960-1279), the rooftops are amazing beautifull colours. Nice Gardens we spend about 2 hours in this park before we drove on to Pingyao another beautifull place you should visit when you are in the neighbourhood.
4. Mengshan Mountain Buddha
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 57 reviews
Reviewed By Colleen H - Brisbane, Australia
This is not just a Buddha it is a massive one as well as the whole village surrounding it, There is lots of lovely bushland and an area they call oxygen bar and it is so good on trees producing oxygen. It is really worth the walk but if you don't want to walk up you can get a buggy most of the way and just walk down.
5. Yingze Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 37 reviews
Reviewed By 1hker1 - Canada
Happy to stretch our legs with an evening stroll, the tour guide suggested this park, a 20 minute walk from hotel. Yingze is a free (ie no entrance fee) urban park, surrounded by highrise buildings and busy roads so its a bit of a peaceful oasis. Surprisingly quiet by the lake (boats available for rent).
People seemed relaxed, lots of families with kids in strollers, dog walkers, seniors enjoying a leisurely gossip with neighbours. Food vendors selling hot dogs and various ice cream bars.
Late April, red yellow purple tulips were at their peak! A young fellow overheard us talking, he stopped to practice his English with us for 10 minutes.
A nice place to relax for a few hours.
6. Jinci Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 29 reviews
Reviewed By sigehaizi - Sooke, Canada
One cold Saturday afternoon seemed like an excellent time to check out the museum. The only cost was the taxi to get there. An afternoon at a museum is always a chance to learn something - even if it seems to be much the same as other ones; and this one did have the usual coins, jade etc found in museums throughout China. Therefore, I strongly suggest taking extra to really see the many buddha statues. They are all from the region I believe - many with a broken right hand, or without a head - often missing hands, head and/or a foot. However, they are still quite magnificent.
I found the scrolls, the more modern ones at least, rather boring, most likely because similar works are found everywhere in China.
The models of outdoor theatres and of temples were exquisite; however, these only depict the outer view.
Overall, being free made it an easy choice for a cold winter day and I expect hot days would be ideal also for spending a quiet afternoon wandering up and down the stairs.
Downside, nowhere to eat; difficult to find transportation.
7. Twin Pagoda Temple (Shuangta si)
Overall Ratings
4 based on 35 reviews
Reviewed By dwl321 - Warrington,England
Lovely old stone pagodas and nice Gardens. Very photogenic. Slightly out of the main town and off the beaten track but worth the short journey. Make your taxi driver wait for you if you can make yourself understood as you may not otherwise get back into town.
8. Fenhe Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 16 reviews
Reviewed By Eddie O - Wollongong, Australia
Firdt afternoon in Taiyuan spent with dxpats in tg he park. Clean and green. Kids played ball games as adults relaxed and talked. No crowds and plenty of space
9. Liu Lane South Road
Overall Ratings
4 based on 18 reviews
Reviewed By Amy L - New York, New York, United States
LiuXiang has many areas. There is a long street with small eateries, dessert shops, and souvenir stores. Very well decorated and a fun place to walk. Great for dates. Outside of that area are streets with even more more stores and photo studios. Everything is up for haggling.
10. Shanxi Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 15 reviews
Reviewed By Gary Y - Singapore, Singapore
The museum facade looks like a sports stadium, iconic and nicely located facing the Fenhe river that separates the city, so after the visit, we could also enjoyed the river scenery just by the stairs outside and chilling out for a little while.
The museums has 4 levels if i remember correctly and the Exhibitions are very well organised and nicely presented. The exhibits focused on histories and carried artefacts relating to Shanxi Province which reinforced how fascinating and influential this province once was in Ancient China. We could only afford 2 hours here and that was insufficient. Recommend at least 4hours to really see and Reading everything.
However, not too sure about foreign languages support but seems unavailable so having an English guide would be helpful if you don't speak mandarin.
