Taiyuan, the "Dragon City" on the Fen River, is Shanxi's capital and the practical base for the province's greatest hits — Jinci, Pingyao, Datong and Wutaishan all radiate from its stations. The city itself deserves more than a layover: a temple of the Jin kingdom whose Song-dynasty Hall of the Holy Mother ranks among China's finest timber buildings, a provincial museum with bronze collections that stop first-time visitors in their tracks, twin pagodas on the skyline, and a noodle-and-vinegar food culture as distinctive as any in the north.
