Jinzhong

Jinzhong, formerly known as Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province, China, bordering Hebei province to the east. In 1999 the area was judged sufficiently urbanized that Jinzhong Prefecture became a prefecture-level city, and its former seat at Yuci became a county-level district. The 2020 census counted 3,379,498 inhabitants, of whom 1,226,617 lived in the Yuci and Taigu urban districts, and Yuci is increasingly connected to nearby Taiyuan, the provincial capital. The climate is continental, monsoon-influenced and semi-arid, with cold, very dry winters and hot, humid summers, and about 388 millimetres of annual precipitation falls mostly from June to September. The city houses several Shanxi courtyard houses, merchants' residences praised as outstanding ancient civilian dwellings, and Lingshi County was the site of the Nanshan Colliery disaster. Its sister cities include Szolnok in Hungary and Luang Prabang in Laos.