Shanxi is a northern province of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Jin, after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period. Shanxi has an area of 150,000 km² and a population of 32.97 million.

Shanxi's name literally means "mountains' west", which refers to the province's location west of the Taihang Mountains. Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the north. The capital of Shanxi is Taiyuan.

Shanxi depends mostly on agriculture, mainly the cultivation of wheat, but also corn and sorghum.

Shanxi is very rich in natural resources, including coal and bauxite. Shanxi has, in fact, one third of China's coal, and this has made Shanxi a leading producer of coal within China.

Industry in Shanxi is mostly centered around coal, power generation, metal refining, and other heavy industries.

In 2003, Shanxi had a gross domestic product of 245.7 billion RMB, and a per capita income of 7468 RMB. By market exchange rates, these convert to US$29.6 billion and US$990 respectively.

People in most regions of Shanxi speak dialects of Jin, a subdivision of Chinese. People in the southwest speak dialects of Mandarin. (Jin is sometimes classified as a subdivision of Mandarin.

Vinegar is a very important part of Shanxi cuisine.

The evolution of China's ancient furniture is closely related to the sitting posture of ancient Chinese.

During the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties, people used to sit cross-legged on the ground. Furniture, such as mats and tables, were made low and short. By the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-280), much higher furniture had spread to central China from minority nationalities who lived in the north and west of the country. Beds, couches and other furniture became higher with changes in sitting posture, since people began to sit on chairs with their legs hanging down.