"Charming Pingyao" Pingyao by Waxbag

Located halfway between Beijing and Xi'an, Pingyao makes for an excellent stop over to visit a charming Chinese town plucked straight out of the 19th century. With the racing development that is swallowing up traditional towns all over China this one remains suprisingly intact and void of the guady and glitzy new China. Pingyao is an incredibly well preserved ancient city surrounded by a completely intact Ming dynasty wall. It was a prosperous town during the Ming and Qing dynasties due to the success of the merchants. Pingyao, with its very clever and entrepreneurial citizens, rose to be the financial capital of China. The Rishengchang Financial House is the first bank in China, if not the world. It started as a small dye shop until the owner introduced a system of checks and deposits for its other branches. Eventually, other businesses, individuals, and even the government of China used the bank and its 57 branches around China. The Japanese invasion of China in the 1930’s and the advent of Western banking systems ended Pingyao’s prosperity and isolated it from the modernization other towns received leaving the ancient town untouched from the ugliness that plagues the majority of China’s ancient cities turned modern overnight. The many museums in Pingyao give the visitor an excellent opportunity to see a town frozen in time. The many financial houses are not the only interest here. Also fascinating are the residences of the financial house owners and the ornate carriages and living quarters they enjoyed; the Ancient Government Building with the prison, torture chambers, halls of records, and magistrates quarters; the Chamber of Commerce; the Pawnshop; the Newspaper House; the Confusion Temple; the many Taoist temples; and the armed escort agencies with their large training areas bordered by fighting staffs, broads swords, and clubs.

Ming Dynasty wall

Perhaps the most interesting part of the town is the city walls. Originally built in the Zhou dynasty (827-728 BC wow that’s old!), they have been clad in brick with beautiful watch towers and gates during the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 AD). Walking along the 6 kms of wall, entirely intact, is one of the highlights of the Pingyao. They stand about 60 feet tall and are about 15 feet wide, perfectly paved in brick. The watch towers are in excellent condition and some can be climbed affording fantastic views of the one or two story building town. Apparently, even the Chinese film industry likes Pingyao because we had to wait for 30 minutes as they filmed a WWII war movie at one of the city gates we needed to go through. Pingyao is not known abroad like the Forbidden City or Great Wall, but it deserves.

Old woman playing cards

Despite being a touristy city (seen mostly by Chinese tourist) the people of Pingyao seem to go through their daily lives unaffected by the cities visitors.

• Pros:Extraordinary place to visit a traditional Han town