Some of China's first centers of civilization were in the present-day Shanxi province and there are numerous temples and monasteries throughout the province as a result of that. The province's main attraction is the Yungang Buddhist Caves, 16 km west of Datong. Inside the caves are about 50,000 statues and they stretch for more than one kilometer from the pass leading into Inner Mongolia. On the top of the mountain ridge you can visit the ruins of a 17th-century fortress that was used as a protective bastion against the nomadic tribes from the north during the Qing dynasty.

In the 1930's the area protected the provinces behind it from invading Japanese.

Since the communists took over in 1949, Shanxi's mineral and ore deposits have been exploited on a grand scale. There are several industrial towns and cities such as Datong and the capital Taiyuan, where many factories are located.