The commercial development of Taiyuan, capital and largest city of North China's Shanxi province, spans 3,000 to 4,000 years and the earliest form of local commerce was border checkpoint trading. 

In the past, there were many ethnic groups in the north of Taiyuan and the exchange of the nomads' products from the northern region with the agricultural goods and handicrafts from the southern region was inevitable.

The Jin merchants, or Shanxi merchants, originated in Yuncheng city in southern Shanxi province. Up until the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the Shanxi merchants had developed from southern to northern Shanxi. During that process, the Taiyuan Prefecture was always at the center of commercial activity. 

In historical times, the Taiyuan Prefecture was much larger than present-day Taiyuan city. During the Qing Dynasty, when the Shanxi merchants were most active, the prefecture included today's Taiyuan city, as well as the ancient Yuci, Taigu, Qixian, Wenshui, Jiaocheng, Lanxian and Xingxian counties. 

The development of foreign trade was an important aspect of the development of the Shanxi merchants in Taiyuan. 

They pioneered the ancient China-Mongolia-Russia Tea Road, spanning more than 200 cities and 13,000 kilometers. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a special precinct in Xugou town in Taiyuan for consigning supplies to Russia.