Shanxi Province is located to the west of Taihang Mountain, hence its name, Shanxi (the west of the mountain). Shanxi occupies an area of 156,000 square kilometers and is inhabited by a population of more than 32 million, including its minority ethnic population. It is also called Hedong due to its location to the east of Yellow River. The capital of Shanxi is Taiyuan.

Shanxi is one of the cradles of Chinese civilizations. The history of Shanxi can be dated back to one hundred million years ago. As early as one hundred million years ago, the ancestors of the Chinese lived and grew in this region. Legend tells us that the Yellow Emperor, founder of the Chinese nation, once lived in Shanxi for a certain period. Archeological findings reveal that, there were people living here during the Neolithic period.

Shanxi boasts an abundance of cultural sites from its long and proud history. Most of the ancient structures here were built before the Liao and Song Dynasties. So it is the reason why Shanxi is often called the "Chinese Ancient Architecture Museum". The historical relics here includes: the Buddhist wonder of the Yungang Grottoes in Datong City, the ancient city of Pingyao which was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO in 1997, the oldest and tallest ancient wooden pagoda in China, the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County and the remote Shuanglin and Jinci Temple and so on. Apart from the cultural recourses, Shanxi also offers a number of natural magnificent and beautiful places to  tourists. The most famous are: Wutai Mountain with the longest and most prestigious history in the four most famous Buddhist holy lands of China and one of the Five Sacred Mountains in China-Mountain Hengshan.