Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 sq. km whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 sq. km. The name of the city literally means "Great Plains," referring to the location where the Fen River leaves the mountains. Taiyuan was an ancient capital, constructed by Zhaojianzi in 497 BC, named Jinyang. It served as the capital of Zhao. It was renamed Taiyuan following its conquest by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC. Under the later Han dynasty, it was the capital of Bing Province (Bingzhou). For a time in the 6th century, the city was a secondary capital of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi states, growing into a fairly large city and also becoming a center of Buddhism.