There is a well-preserved ancient city in northern China. It keeps all the features of the cities of Chinese Han nationality during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, displaying a complete picture of the unusual cultural, social, economic and religious development. The city is the Pingyao ancient city which has been formally named as “World Cultural Heritage” by UNESCO. 联合国教科文组织 : 简称 （ UNESCO ） United Nations Educational Scientific and Culural Organization

The Ancient City of Pingyao The Ancient City of Pingyao 平遥古城

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The Ancient City of Ping Yao location history tourist attraction food admission ticket location

Ping Yao ancient city is located in the middle part of Shanxi province

and it is 110km away from Taiyuan, the capital of the province.

This is a panoramic 全景的 view of the ancient city of Ping yao

The Ancient City of Ping Yao history location history tourist attraction admission ticket food

It was first built during the reign of King Xuan of West Zhou (827 B. C B. C.) and expanded in the third year during the reign of Hongwu of Ming Dynasty (1370 AD), i.e. over 2,700 years ago. The original purpose of King Xuan for building Pingyao was to withstand the attacks of the nomads 游牧者 of the north.Today, the fortress 堡垒 of county of Ming and Qing dynasties ( ) basically looks the same as it was because of proper preservation and can be called the ancient city laying most intact in the Han Nationality area in China. history

The Ancient City of Ping Yao location history tourist attraction food admission ticket tourist attraction

Pingyao is known mainly for three historical treasures: the ancient brick city wall, the Zhenguo Temple, and the Shuanglin Temple.

Overlooking this old city from the sky, you may find that the shape of the Pingyao ancient city is like that of a tortoise.

1.The southern gate of the city is like the head of a tortoise. The two wells outside the gate symbolize the two eyes of the tortoise.

2.The northern gate of the city is the tail of the tortoise. It is the lowest spot of the whole city, where all the water in the city flows.

3.There are four barbican 外堡 entrances in the east and west of the city, facing each other like the paws of the tortoise.

瓮城 南门瓮城

In the closed city, four avenues, eight side streets and seventy-two lanes interweave with one another.

The ancient Chinese people worshipped tortoises, and regarded tortoises as animals of longevity. Thus the way Pingyao was constructed carried the profound 渊博的 meaning of making this ancient city as firm as a rock and last for ages with the reliance on the power of the tortoise.

The circumference 周长 of the city walls is 6,163 meters. The walls are about 12 meters high. The top of the walls is 3-6 meters wide. The eastern, western and northern walls are square and straight, and the southern walls wander along the moat. 12 meters high 6,163 meters

attraction County Government Office 3.3. Temple of the City God ("Chenghuang Miao") 2. Rishengchang draft bank 5. Confucius Temple Ming-Qing Street 4.

The Confucius Temple

The Confucius Temple in the Ancient City of Pingyao 平遥文庙, Shanxi Province, was first built in the early years of the Zhenguan era (CE ) of the Tang ( CE ) Dynasty

The Temple of the City God was originally built in the Northern Song Dynasty ( ) and has undergone two major renovations due to fire in 1544 and 1859 The Temple of the City God 城隍庙

Visitors enter the temple, which consists of seveal courtyards and halls, through a magnificent three-gate wood archway. Elsewhere in the Temple visitors will also see a re-creation of heaven and hell, with every manner of torture shown in hell, from being cut to bits and being boiled to death, with happy families painted on the walls of heaven above.

County Government Office ''(Yamen)'' Pingyao has been a county seat ever since the establishemnt of the prefecture-county system in the Qin dynasty, and the city has a well preserved yamen, or county government office, a complex which houses the home and office of the magistrate sent to act as mayor, judge, and senior official.

This yamen consists of an archway, ceremonial gate, various offices, a prison, a court, meeting rooms, a residential area, and a garden. This yamen compound was built in 1346, during the Yuan Dynasty, but only one building remains from the Yuan period, the rest having been built during the Ming Dynasty. There are altogether over 300 rooms in the complex.

Ming-Qing Street Walking in the street, you may feel turning back to the ancient times. The old style buildings on both sides are arranged in order, most of which are various shops made of bricks and woods, some selling local specialties and some selling snacks and souvenirs.

This three-storied wooden-structured building is called Ancient City Building. It is the tallest building in the ancient city and also the center of the ancient city. Because there is a “Gold Well” downstairs, it is also called “Gold Well Building”.

You may hardly realize that Pingyao was a commercial center in the northern China 300 to 600 years ago. The first bank in China — RiShengchang Draft Bank was built here. Nowadays, this quadrangle 四边形 -shaped structure is a “Museum of China’s Bank Draft” “ 中国 票号博物馆 ” with over 20 exhibition rooms. Rishengchang draft bank

The big stones in the middle of the courtyard are in fact a currency in ancient China — Yuanbao. Three years later, the shop began setting up branches in many provinces of the country. In the 1940's, its business expansion began to include Japan, Singapore and Russia.

The Ancient City of Ping Yao location history tourist attraction food admission ticket food

Pingyao Beef and Immemorial Pies 太古饼 are the most famous snacks in Pingyao. It was said that the emperor dowager Cixi spoke very highly of these snacks when she passed Pingyao and tasted the food. Such a famous ancient city certainly has its famous food and specialties.

The Ancient City of Ping Yao location history tourist attraction food admission ticket

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