Jincheng

Hi, later this year I could be going to Jincheng and I would appreciate any help at all.

I will be travelling from London Heathrow, is Beijing the place to head for?

How far is it from Beijing to Jincheng?

What is the best way to travel there?

Is this a difficult trip?

So many questions, and any answers will be gladly accepted.

Jincheng

Hello BritPete: Beijing is the place to head for.

Jincheng is southwest of Beijing, approximately 650 km by air.

From Beijing, you can travel to Jincheng either by train or by air/auto. I have made several trips to Jincheng since 2005; but I have never traveled there by train, which would take about 8 hours - I was told. I always fly from Beijing to Zhengzhou (CGO), the nearest

airport, and travel by car from Zhengzhou to Jincheng which takes about one and a half hours. Usually I%26#39;d arrange to have a car pick me up; but once I had to take a cab from there, it cost about $85.00.

It depends on how you define ';difficult';. I don%26#39;t think it is too difficult. There is a Chinese Government runs travel agency that you can contact to have them arrange the trip for you.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Jincheng

Thanks for you reply.

It seems that not too many people need to do this trip!

I have since found that flying from Beijing to Zhengzhou really is the best way to go.

I also discovered that I can travel from Heathrow-Vienna-Beijing-Zhengzhou, all on one ticket, purchased online for a very good deal indeed!

Have you ever arranged your journey so?

The thing that would worry me, would be the transfer from Beijing airport, to get on the correct plane to

Zhengzhou! Have you any advice to offer about this?

I was surprised that the taxi fare is so high from the airport to Jincheng, could this possibly be a ';tourist'; price?

I have Chinese friends living in Jincheng, and they will be picking me up from the airport, so no problems there.

With the language difficulty, I have not been able to find out too much about Jincheng.

Is it at a high elevation?

Would it be very cold in September?

Is it a very big place?

Well, you did say, any more questions...Lol.

Thanks for your help.

Pete.

I think you%26#39;ve said it!! One only goes to Jincheng when one has to:)

When I go there I do Los Angeles-Beijing, overnight in Beijing, then Beijing-Zhengzhou. My flight gets into Bejing about 2.30 p.m. and I can actually continue on to Zhengzhou on the same day; but by the time I allow for clearing custom and get myself over to the domestic terminal - it gets to be late and I don%26#39;t like to have to do the drive portion at night. The road is very good; but most of the drivers on the road are not - especially when it rains!

About the domestic terminal in Beijing - there are two of them and they are all withing walking distance - but it is a long walk. I am not sure if there are buses connecting between the terminals or not.

It is possible that we were hit with a ';tourist'; price on the cab fare. However, one of people traveling with me speaks fluent Chinese - he was born there. We called our contact in Jincheng who were supposed to pick us up and our contact gave us an idea of what price we should bargain for. Since there are not too many people traveling between the two cities - the cab driver had to cover his trip going back to Zhenzhou without passengers - so we were told.

Jincheng is a prefecture-level city. It has about 2.2 million population. The city itself is quite modern. It is supported by the coal industry. I found quite a bit on information about the city; but mostly has to do with technical and/or industrial paper. I will post the links for you later if you are interested. The city is in a mountainous area but in a basin. Average cold in September is 14 degree C and avg hi is 24 degree C. English is not widely spoken; but you will find one or two here and there, mostly young people who happen to enjoy a chance to practice speaking English. Jincheng, like Beijing has too many cars that the roadway can no longer support, especially during rush hours - do expect delays during those hours. I am getting ready to go there at the end of this month, will be there for about a week.

Sam

Very helpful thanks a lot.

It%26#39;s useful to know there are two terminals at Beijing dealing with domestic flights.

I will have to check the time between flights, but I think it will be comfortable enough.

Interesting that you mentioned coal mining, it seems that if people are not blowing themselves up with the illegal storing of fireworks in their houses, then the mines will get them....so many accidents.

My friend actually works in the charmingly named: ';Jincheng Anthracite Hospital';

I think I have all the information I need now, thank you. I will either be going in September or in the spring.

Thanks again,

Peter.

Just on more thing. I now know that I have to clear customs, then go to the one of the terminals for domestic flights.

Is this an easy thing to do?

Are there signs in English?

Is it easy to find things out?

Lol, more questions. My only concern is about the connecting flight at Beijing.

Peter.

The airport has lots of English and shouldn%26#39;t be a problem, but you still need time to go through immigration, get your luggage, and make the connection between terminals. It doesn%26#39;t usually take too long, but I hate to be waiting in lines wondering if I have time to make my connection.

Make sure your flight leaves from the same airport. It probably does, but there is another airport.

Thanks for your help, plenty of good advice there.

Peter.

Hello Pete,

Shanxi Province has 1/3 of China coal reserve and Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group Company is one of the largest mining groups. Jincheng is a company town; every one in Jincheng is either works for the mining group or work to provide survices to the people who work for the mining group.

The compny is currently working on a project to install a 120 MW power plant that would use coal mine methane as fuel. It is a greenhouse gas reduction project. It will also provide safety improvement because methane gas will be pulled out ahead of the mining machine.

Food in Jincheng is very good and very inexpensive. There are many specialties that can only be found there. I think you will enjoy your visit there.

If you can, check with your friends and time your visit with one of the many festivals celebrate there. The entire city is always beautifully decorated and food will be very very good.

The hotels there will not accept foreign credit cards and will insist on cash(RMB) only; but there are plenty of ATM machines.

Sam

Thanks for all the info. I am actually staying in a house, and i%26#39;m told that I will ';Live like a Chinese';

There is a Kentucky nearby too! for good measure.

Still not sure whether I will be going this year or next but I have got my injections up to date in case.

Thanks again,

Peter.

If you have time, there is actually quite a bit to explore in Shanxi.