Yangquan 阳泉Yángquán

About Yangquan

Yangquan grew into a coal and ironworking city after the railway between Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang reached it in 1906, and it lies about 100 km from each. Niangzi Pass, a Great Wall fort on the Hebei border, takes the name Ladies' Pass, by tradition, from the women's troops of the Tang princess Pingyang. In Pingding County the brick Tianning Temple Twin Pagodas were first built in the Northern Song, and Yu County's Cangshan is named for the legend of the hidden Orphan of Zhao.

What to eat in Yangquan

• Niangzi Pass pressed flatbread (娘子关压饼)
• Pingding clay-pot banquet (平定砂锅宴)

Listed sites in Yangquan

19 sites in Yangquan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Cangshan Temple 藏山祠 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
  A group of temple halls and pavilions set in a mountain gorge north of Yu County, built around the legend of the Zhao Orphan, in which a child of the Zhao family of the ancient Jin state is hidden in these hills; the legend is listed as national intangible cultural heritage.
• Cuifeng Mountain Scenic Area 翠枫山 4A scenic area · on the map
  A forested mountain scenic area south-west of Yangquan, with forest cover above 97 per cent and more than 300 plant species recorded, including over 100 rare tree species.
• Dachang Hot Spring Resort 大汖温泉度假村 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hot-spring resort in a deep mountain valley in the far north of Yu County, with open-air pools in several themed zones and a reception building that has a lounge, cinema and spa rooms.
• Hongyanling Scenic Area 红岩岭 4A scenic area · on the map
  A mountain scenic area in the Taihang Mountains in north-east Pingding County, beside the Hebei border, with a planned area of 40 km² and a core of 8 km² of peaks, pine forest and karst.
• Niangzi Pass 娘子关 4A scenic area
  A Ming-dynasty fortified pass on the Shanxi–Hebei border, known as the ninth pass of the Great Wall, where the railway and road cross the Taihang Mountains; the present walls date from 1542.
• North China Yifeng Ecological Park 华北奕丰生态园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A farm-based leisure park near Qianyuanji village in Niucun town, Yu County, developed from a coal company's transformation project.
• Taolingou Scenic Area 桃林沟 4A scenic area · on the map
  A peach-orchard park in the hills just north-west of central Yangquan, nicknamed the city's back garden, where old peach trees fill the valley.
• Xiaohe Ancient Village 小河古村 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hillside village on the eastern edge of Yangquan with Ming, Qing and Republican-era courtyard houses, about 178 courtyards in all, and the ancestral home of the modern writer Shi Pingmei.
• Yangquan Memory 1947 Cultural Park 阳泉记忆·1947文化园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A cultural park built on the site of the former Yangquan Water Pump Factory and opened in 2021.
• Dawang Temple, Yu County 大王庙 National heritage site · on the map
  A temple on the west side of Yu County town, beside the Beihe stream, which the county government's own guide calls the county's oldest and best-preserved old building.
• Fujun Temple 府君庙 National heritage site · on the map
  A temple to the deity Cui Fujun in Zhongshebei village in the north of Yu County, rebuilt in 1315 under the Yuan dynasty.
• Guanshan Academy 冠山书院 National heritage site · on the map
  A traditional academy on wooded Guanshan hill west of Pingding town, the best known of several academies whose remains lie on the hill.
• Guanwang Temple, Yangquan 关王庙 National heritage site · on the map
  A temple to the deified general Guan Yu on the side of Yuquan Hill in Linli village, north of central Yangquan.
• Kaihe Temple Grottoes 开河寺石窟 National heritage site · on the map
  A group of Buddhist rock carvings and inscribed tablets cut into the cliff of Kuitou Hill beside Luanliu village in Pingding County.
• Machiyan Temple 马齿岩寺 National heritage site · on the map
  A small mountain temple in Mashan village in the far east of Pingding County, on the Taihang Number One tourist road.
• Potou Taishan Temple 坡头泰山庙 National heritage site · on the map
  A village temple to the Taishan deity in Potou village in the hills east of Yu County town, rebuilt in 1347 under the Yuan dynasty.
• Sansheng Temple Main Hall, Yu County 西关三圣寺大殿 National heritage site · on the map
  The surviving main hall of Sansheng Temple, founded in 1064 to honour the Three Sages of the Huayan school: Shakyamuni, Manjusri and Samantabhadra.
• Tianning Temple Twin Pagodas 天宁寺双塔 National heritage site · on the map
  Two octagonal, three-storey brick pagodas standing in a small park in the middle of Pingding town, the survivors of Tianning Temple, which was founded in the Northern Song.
• Yubei Taishan Temple 盂北泰山庙 National heritage site · on the map
  A village temple in Xi Yubei village north of Yu County town, with a Yuan-dynasty main hall that keeps wall paintings including a procession of the Jade Emperor.

On the map

Open Yangquan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)