People in north China's Shanxi Province will travel more easily to foreign destinations as five international air routes were opened here on Friday.

With an airliner leaving the provincial capital of Taiyuan Friday for Frankfurt in Germany, Shanxi was for the first time linked with foreign countries by air routes.

The five routes, operated by Beijing-based Air China, link Taiyuan with Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York and San Francisco with a brief stop in Beijing.

Shanxi is China's major coal production base and a popular tourist destination, boasting two sites that are included in UNESCO World Heritage list.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2006)