The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan , while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. The name Shanxi means "West of the Mountains", a reference to the province's location west of the Taihang Mountains.
Shanxi's terrain is characterised by a plateau bounded partly by mountain ranges. Jin Chinese is considered by some linguists to be a distinct language from Mandarin, and its geographical range covers most of Shanxi. Both Jin and Mandarin are spoken in Shanxi. Shanxi is a leading producer of coal in China , possessing roughly a third of China's total coal deposits.
Nevertheless, Shanxi's GDP per capita remains below the national average. The province hosts the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. They were followed by Northern Wei — , a Xianbei kingdom, which had one of its earlier capitals at present-day Datong in northern Shanxi, and which went on to rule nearly all of northern China.
The Tang Dynasty — originated in Taiyuan. Empress Wu Zetian , one of China's only female rulers, was born in Shanxi in Among the Ten Kingdoms, it was the only one located in northern China. Shanxi was initially home to the jiedushi commander of Hedong, Li Cunxu , who overthrew the first of the Five Dynasties, Later Liang — to establish the second, Later Tang — Finally, when the fifth of the Five Dynasties Later Zhou emerged, the jiedushi of Hedong at the time, Liu Chong , rebelled and established an independent state called Northern Han , one of the Ten Kingdoms, in what is now northern and central Shanxi.
Shi Jingtang , founder of the Later Jin , the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the Khitans in return for military assistance. This territory, called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun , included a part of northern Shanxi.
