Back The Sister Cities and the Sister Castle of Himeji TAIYUAN

A town with energy to build a modernized city TAIYUAN CHINA Affiliated on May 20, 1987 Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, is located 500 km southwest of Beijing. Since the city was developed in 5th century B.C., it had been regarded as an important fortress of northern China until the 16th century. Today it is the biggest industrialized city and also the center of politics, economics and culture in Shanxi Province. Downtown you can see multi-story buildings standing in a row and resting places under green trees. Parks are crowded with people enjoying taijiquan and martial arts everyday. You can feel the people's energy to build a modernized city. The handicraft industry had been very popular from ancient times and in 100 B.C. the iron industry started and Taiyuan was known as the town of scissors. The main industries in the 20th century were coal mining and heavy industries, making the best use of rich coal resources. Recently light industries and the textile industry are taking their place. A lot of temples related with ancient dynasties still remain in town. Historic heritage such as Tian Long stone cave, Chongshan Monastery (Chongshan si) and Twin Pagoda Temple (Shuangta si) are still cherished by the citizens as symbols of their city. Himeji city began the sister city affiliation with Taiyuan on May 20, 1987, starting with a visit of friendship delegations from Taiyuan to Himeji. The exchange in the educational field is very active. Junior-high students in Himeji visit Taiyuan every year and promote better understanding between the two cities. In 2001, ten junior high school students from Taiyuan came to Himeji and stayed with volunteer host families for a week. Taiyuan, which promotes modernization step by step while maintaining old traditions, is the city that expects a new turn in the coming century.