People visiting the Shanxi capital for the first time usually head straight to the Yongzuo Temple's Twin Pagodas or the Jinci Temple, monuments to the city's ancient history. The following sites, which revisit Taiyuan's past and speak of its present, are also worth checking out.

Mengshan Giant Buddha

This 63-meter-high sitting statue, carved on a cliff face of Mengshan Mountain, is the oldest known stone-carved Buddha in China. Constructed in the 6th century, it broke into pieces that were either lost or buried underground, before being rediscovered and repaired in the 1980s. Because of the mountain's greenery, the locals have dubbed the site an "oxygen bar".