Location: Situated along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in the western part of the region known as North China
Area: 156,000 square kilometers
Climate: It gases a mild continental climate with four distinct seasons awash in sunlight. The annual average temperature ranges from 4℃ to 14℃ and annual precipitation from 400 mm to 650 mm. The frost-free season ranges from 120 to more than 220 days.
Provincial capital: Taiyuan
Population: 32.97millions (March 2001)
Ethnic groups: Han,Hui,Mongol,Man,etc 34 ethnic groups in Shanxi.
Agriculture: Shanxi has 3,656,500 hectares of arable land, 23 percent of its area, The agricultural economy is based on farming, supplemented rice,wheat, barley, sorghum, potato, sweet poato,buckwheat,broom corn millet and beans grow in profusion. Cash crops include cotton tobacco, beets, vegetable, oil-bearing plants and hemp. Also to be found are apples, walnuts and dates and precious plants used on Chinese traditional medicine such as Codonopsis pilosula and Astragalus baicalletsis. Pigs, sheep, chicken, rabbits, cows, donkeys horses, mules, silkworm and bees are also raised.
Industry: Over the last 40 plus years, Shanxi has established a basic industrial system comprising a great variety of industries. Currently more than 12,000 industrial enterprises are in operation. Coal and electric power form the backbone of industry of Shanxi.
