Linfen

Linfen (simplified Chinese: 临汾; traditional Chinese: 臨汾; pinyin: Línfén) is a prefecture-level city in southern Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It is situated along the banks of the Fen River. It has an area of 20,275 square kilometres (7,828 sq mi) and according to the 2010 Census, a population of 4,316,612 inhabitants of which 944,050 live in the built-up (or metro) area made up of Yaodu urban district. It was known as Pingyang (平阳) during the Spring and Autumn Period. In 2006, New York based Blacksmith Institute listed Linfen as one of the ten most polluted cities in the world.

Prior to 1978, Linfen was famous for its spring water, greenery and rich agriculture and therefore nicknamed "The Modern Fruit and Flower Town". Since then it has been developing into a main industrial center for coal mining, which has been seriously damaging the city's environment, air quality, farming, health and its past status as a green village.

History

The name of its central district, the Yaodu district, indicates that it was the capital (du, 都) of Yao who lived about 4,200 years ago. He is an extremely important person in Chinese history because the Confucian classics depict him and his successors Shun and Yu as exceptionally praiseworthy. The Confucian Book of History begins with Yao and these two successors. In April 2015, the Xinhua news agency reported that as a result of recent excavations, Chinese archaeologists have confirmed that Yao's capital was in the city now called Linfen.