World Tourist Place

The Ancient City of Ping Yao is an outstanding example of a Han Chinese city of the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th-20th centuries) that has retained all its features to an exceptional degree and, in doing so, provides a remarkably complete picture of cultural, social, economic and religious development during one of the most seminal periods of Chinese history. Ping Yao contains a number of cultural monuments protected by national, provincial, or county designation. The 10th-century Ten Thousand Buddha Hall of Zhen Guo Temple is a fundamental reference for the study of early Chinese painted statues, as well as for its architecture. The 12th-century Main Hall of the Confucian Temple is a classic example of this form of structure, where large oblique beams are used to bear the main roof timbers, instead of the more conventional technique using brackets. The Shuang Lm Temple, founded in the 6th century, is also renowned for its collection of over 2,000 decorated clay statues dating from the 12th-19th centuries. The Qing Xu Daoist Temple, founded in the 7th century, consists of 10 main buildings. Its Dragon Hall is noteworthy for the rare constructional technique used, a system of suspension beams and pendant columns. As a popular tourist city, Pingyao has a great number of hotels in its not very large old city area. Many of the hotels are delicately constructed and decorated in a Ming and Qing style, comfortable and easy for tourists to appreciate the authentic flavor of old Pingyao. Yide Hotel is highly recommended when staying in Pingyao. It is situated in a quiet little alley just a few minutes’ walk from Nan Dajie, the main street of Pingyao Ancient City. It is a beautifully renovated courtyard house built in 1736 by a wealthy merchant during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. All rooms in Yide Hotel are well equipped with air conditioners, bathrooms and large kang-style beds. Besides Yide, Yunjincheng Hotel and Yuantiankui Hotel are also good choices. The ancient city is full of Ming/Qing-era compounds converted into hotels and hostels. Staying in one is often thought of as part of the experience. The small size and distributed sights of the old city mean location is not particularly important. On the main street a bed can go for as much as ¥400. Poke around backstreets and this price can easily quarter. Accommodation in modern buildings is mostly located outside the old city wall.The circuit of walls built in the late 14th century measures 6 km in length, the precise dimension for a city of this grade according to Han prescriptions. There are six fortified gates and 72 massive bastions along its length. Since that time it has evolved steadily as a Han city during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It emerged as one of the leading commercial cities in northern China during the 16th century, and retained that status well into the present age. In the second half of the 19th century the banking community of Ping Yao dominated Chinese financial life. The city walls of Pingyao were constructed in the 3rd year of the Hongw Emperor (1370). The walls have six barbican gates. The north and south sides have one gate each. The east and west sides have two gates each. This pattern is similar to that of a turtle (the head, tail, and four legs), earning Pingyao the moniker “Turtle City.” The walls measure about 12 meters high, with a perimeter of 6,000 meters. A 4-meter wide, 4-meter deep moat can be found just outside the walls. Aside from the four structured towers at the four corners, there are also 72 watchtowers and more than 3,000 battlements. In 2004, part of the southern walls collapsed but were reconstructed. However, the rest of the city walls are still largely intact and are considered among the best-preserved ancient city walls on this scale. This makes the city walls the centerpiece of the Heritage Site. “The Ancient City of Pingyao is an outstanding example of a Han Chinese city of the Ming and Qing Dynasties that has retained all its features to an exceptional degree, and in doing so provides a remarkably complete picture of cultural, social, economic, and religious development during one of the most seminal periods of Chinese history.”- World Relics Committee of UNESCO. In the central area of Shanxi Province lies an ancient county typical of rural counties in North China–simple and steeped in ancient tradition. What’s different is that this county is linked firmly to a certain prosperous time in Chinese history. It played quite an important role in the economic development of Shanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Pingyao County is 94 kilometers (58.4 miles) southwest of Taiyuan. With an area of 1,260 square kilometers (486.5 square miles), it has five towns and nine villages under its prefecture. Unlike those cities or counties south of the Yangtze River, Pingyao was not endowed with charming natural scenery but with a group of accomplished businessmen. Pingyao was the birthplace of the Jin Businessmen, who were one of the two famous Chinese business groups during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Owing to this, the first Chinese exchange shop was opened in Pingyao. Then, for the next hundred years, Pingyao was home to almost all of the large exchange shops in China. To a certain degree, Pingyao was to China during the eighteenth century what Wall Street is to the US, which not only helped promote the economic development of Shanxi, but also left us with a magnificent old city and a series of grand residences.