Yangquan

Yangquan is a mountainous industrial city in eastern Shanxi, set among the Taihang Mountains near the Hebei border. Rich coal and aluminum deposits made it one of Shanxi's earliest heavy-industry centers, and it grew rapidly around mining and the Zhengtai railway. The dramatic Niangzi Pass, a fortified gate of the Great Wall said in legend to have been guarded by Princess Pingyang's women's army, lies within its territory. The Song-dynasty Guanwang Temple and the misty peaks of Cangshan attract history and nature lovers. Science-fiction author Liu Cixin wrote much of his early work while employed at the Niangziguan power plant here. Yangquan sits on the Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan high-speed rail line.