Mandarin City

    As an inland city, Taiyuan is a place propitious for giving birth to great men, where the people are honest and warmhearted. Many famous historic figures came from Taiyuan such as follows: the famous general Lian Po during the Warring States Period (475—221 B. C.); the prime minister Di Renjie; the literator Bai Xingjian and his brother Bai Juyi——a great poet, all in the Tang Dynasty (618—907); and poets of Wang Han, Wang Changling and Wang Zhihuan, the famous generals of Hu Yanzan and Yang Yanzhao, all in the Song Dynasty (960—1279); the famous calligrapher and painter Mi Shi, and the author of “Three Kingdoms” Lou Guanzhou. There are a lot of historical relics and attractions in Taiyuan, such as the Holy Mother Hall in Jinci Temple, the Grottoes on Mountain Tianlong, the Taoist rites on Mountain Dragon, the Chongshan Monastery, Chunyang Taoist Palace, Baiyun Temple, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618—970) Li Shimin's handwritten tablet inscription of “Zhenguang Baohan” (An Inscription with Preface to the Ancestral Temple of the State of Jin) in Jinci Temple, etc.