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| Hukou Waterfall |
The city of Linfen is in the southwestern part of Shanxi province and covers a 20,275-square–kilometer area, 19.4 percent of it plain, 51.4 percent hilly, and 29.2 percent mountainous. It has a temperate, continental monsoon climate, with 1,748 to 2,512 hours of sunshine annually and 127 to 280 frost-free days. Average annual precipitation is 420 to 550 mm and the temperature ranges from 9- 13 C.
This makes it suitable for agriculture and high grain and cash crop production. The central Linfen basis has fertile land and is one of the province's cotton and wheat bases. It is also rich in mineral resources, with 38 known types, including coal, iron, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, bentonite, granite, marble, oil shale, and fire clay, all useful for industrial development. Coal is the most abundant resource, with 39.8 billion tons of reserves, or 14 percent of the province’s total. The major types are coking coal, gas-fat coal, meager lean coal and anthracite. Nearby Xiangning county is one of China’s three largest coking coal bases, with thick, shallow coal seams that are easy to exploit. The second most abundant resource is iron, with 420 million tons of reserves, 180 million tons of it magnetite, and 70 percent of Shanxi’s total. It also has 150 million square meters of marble, 20 million tons of limestone, and 23.4 billion tons of gypsum, and a bentonite that is known as "multipurpose clay".
The city has convenient transport via the South Tongpu, Houxi, and Houyue railways, and the Datong-Yuncheng Highway, Huozhou-Houma Highway, State highways 209 and 309, and the Jincheng-Hancheng Highway.
There are unique tourist resources as well, with 8,691 historical sites, 28 of them under national protection, 67 under provincial protection, and 30, city level and 140,000 heritage items in 15 museums. Linfen has some famous scenic spots, such as Hukou Waterfall, Guangsheng Temple, the Yao Temple, and Gushe Mountain Fairy Cave.
