Location: Jinzhong
Top Things to do in Jinzhong
Top Restaurants in Jinzhong
- 1. YingHua Wu
- 2. Quan Jin HuiGuan
- 3. FuRong Restaurant (ZhangFeng Jie)
- 4. Jin Yun GuiBin Lou
- 5. A Wa Shanzhai (Changfeng Street)
- 6. Longyuan Chinese Restaurant(Kempinski Hotel Taiyuan)
- 7. Jiang NanTian Xiang Yuan (TaiYuan ZhangFeng Jie)
- 8. HeDong Yi Xiang Ge
- 9. Xue APo (Parksons)
- 10. ShiZiShan Xia Hong Kong Style Tea Restaurant
What to do and see in Jinzhong, China: The Best Places and Tips
Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city with 3,249,425 inhabitants at the 2010 census in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China.
Restaurants in Jinzhong
1. Chang Family Compound
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 32 reviews
Reviewed By Paul G - Essex
The Chang Family Compound, between Taiyuan and Pingyao, is a wonderful place, built by a family who made their fortune by trading tea. It is not an exaggeration to call it magnificent; it is absolutely huge with many different buildings and interesting insights into China's history, and a lovely garden. So few westerners come here that we were a curiosity and all the locals wanted their photos taken with us.
2. 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.
3. Yuci Hougou
4. 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.
5. Wujin Mountain
6. 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.
7. Zuoquanmiaotian Scenic
8. 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.
9. Yuci Chenghuang Temple
Overall Ratings
3 based on 4 reviews
10. 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.
