Editing Shanxi (section)

===Imperial China===
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2013}}

The [[Han dynasty]] (206 BC – AD 220) ruled Shanxi as the [[zhou (political division)|province]] of [[Bing (province)|Bingzhou]].

[[File:Buddhist votive stele. Limestone. From China, Shanxi Province. Northern Wei Dynasty, c. 520 CE. Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|thumb|Buddhist votive stele. From China, Shanxi Province. Northern Wei dynasty, {{Circa|520 CE}}. Victoria and Albert Museum]]

During the invasion of northern nomads in the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] period (304–439), several regimes including the [[Later Zhao]], [[Former Yan]], [[Former Qin]], and [[Later Yan]] continuously controlled Shanxi. They were followed by [[Northern Wei dynasty|Northern Wei]] (386–534), 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]] (618–907) originated in Taiyuan. During the Tang dynasty and after, present day Shanxi was called ''[[Hedong Commandery|Hédōng]]'' ({{zh|labels=no|t=河東}}), or "east of the (Yellow) river". [[Empress Wu Zetian]], one of China's only female rulers, was born in Shanxi in 624.

During the first part of the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]] (907–960), Shanxi supplied rulers of three of the Five Dynasties. 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 (Five Dynasties)|Later Liang]] (907–923) to establish the second, [[Later Tang]] (923–936). Another ''jiedushi'' of Hedong, [[Gaozu of Later Jin|Shi Jingtang]], overthrew Later Tang to establish the third of the Five Dynasties, [[Later Jin (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]], and yet another ''jiedushi'' of Hedong, [[Liu Zhiyuan]], established the fourth of the Five Dynasties ([[Later Han (Five Dynasties)|Later Han]]) after the [[Khitan people|Khitans]] destroyed Later Jin, the third. 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 (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]], the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the [[Khitan people|Khitan]]s in return for military assistance. This territory, called the [[Sixteen Prefectures|Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun]], included a part of northern Shanxi. The ceded territory became a major problem for the Song dynasty's defense against the Khitans for the next 100 years because it lay south of the [[Great Wall]].

The [[later Zhou]], the last dynasty of the Five Dynasties period was founded by [[Guo Wei]], a Han Chinese, who served as the Assistant Military Commissioner at the court of the Later Han which was ruled by [[Shatuo Turks]]. He founded his dynasty by launching a military coup against the Turkic [[Later Han (Five Dynasties)|Later Han]] Emperor however, his newly established dynasty was short-lived and was conquered by the [[Song dynasty]] in 960.

[[File:The_Fugong_Temple_Wooden_Pagoda.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Pagoda of Fogong Temple built in 1056]]
In the early years of the [[Northern Song dynasty]] (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between the [[Song dynasty]] and the [[Liao dynasty]]. Later the [[Southern Song dynasty]] abandoned all of [[North China]], including Shanxi, to the [[Jurchens|Jurchen]] [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)]] in 1127 after the [[Jingkang Incident]] of the [[Jin campaigns against the Song dynasty|Jin-Song wars]].

The [[Mongol]] [[Yuan dynasty]] administered China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) which were of the same land area and borders as the previous Hedong Commandery of the Tang dynasty.

During the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1911), Shanxi extended north beyond the Great Wall to include parts of [[Inner Mongolia]], including what is now the city of [[Hohhot]], and overlapped with the jurisdiction of the [[Eight Banners]] and the [[Guihua Tümed]] [[banner (Inner Mongolia)|banner]] in that area.

For centuries, Shanxi served as a center for trade and banking. The "[[Shanxi merchants]]" were once synonymous with wealth.<ref>Shanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, ed., ''Shanxi piaohao shiliao'' (山西票号史料) (Taiyuan: Shanxi jingji chubanshe, 1992), pp. 36–39.</ref> The well-preserved city and UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]] [[Pingyao]] shows many signs of its economic importance during the Qing dynasty.