太原市

City Population: 3.15 million (municipality); 2.39 million (urban center)

Main People Group: Predominantly Han Chinese

Primary Language: Mandarin with local dialectical variations

Primary Religion: Non-religious; Catholic

Geography: Taiyuan is located halfway between Beijing and Xi'an with a major expressway linking it to Beijing. The capital of Shanxi Province, the city lies in a narrow depression with mountains ringing the city on three sides. Coal mines, a chemical fertilizer plant, a massive steel plant and two different power plants sit at the base of those mountains. These factors, combined with a rapidly growing automobile population and general shortages of rainfall, contribute to Taiyuan’s drastic air pollution situation. In recent years the city has taken extreme measures to try to increase green space in the city as part of their effort to combat these environmental difficulties.

City History: Taiyuan is an ancient city once known as “the Dragon City.” It is the ancestral home of the Wang lineage (one of China’s most common names). During the last few imperial dynasties Shanxi was famous for its merchants and the early banks (piaohao) that made their trade so successful and profitable. Protestant Christianity came to Shanxi in the late 1870’s through a massive famine relief effort directed by noted missionary statesman Timothy Richard. Following this, Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission chose Shanxi to be one of their early ministry targets by sending the Cambridge Seven here to work. At about this time, Pastor Hsi came to faith while sitting for the imperial exams in Taiyuan. Taiyuan is also a martyr city: On July 9^th 1900 some 45 foreign Christian men, women and children were executed before the provincial government compound at the height of the Boxer Uprising. All told, nearly 200 Christian missionaries died in Shanxi during that summer. The counties and suburbs immediately surrounding Taiyuan have been and today still are one of the main centers of Catholicism in China. It is not unusual to meet fifth-generation or even older Catholic families; in many places entire villages are Catholic with the local priest having a powerful influence.

Christian Population in the city: 30,000 Protestants (estimate)

Number of registered churches in the city: 12 Protestant churches/large meeting points (municipality); 1 Protestant church (urban center)

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