Shanxi Tourism: Pingyao Ancient City Tour (Photos)

The ancient city of Pingyao in Shanxi is one of the two ancient cities in China that were earlier announced by UNESCO as a world natural and cultural heritage. Since the ancient city of Pingyao was successfully applied for World Heritage status on December 3, 1997, it has profoundly changed the thinking of Pingyao people, changed Pingyao's development trajectory, injected strong endogenous power into Pingyao's development, and opened up new opportunities for Pingyao people. The source of wealth has kicked off the cultural renaissance of Pingyao, protected the spiritual home of Pingyao people, and allowed Pingyao to confidently go global.

Assembled under CCTV (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

On September 2, 2005, the reporter was invited to participate in a self-driving trip to Shanxi organized by Beijing Car Love, and the ancient city of Pingyao was the first a trip. At 5:30 in the morning that day, more than 20 cars from all over the capital gathered at the square in front of the CCTV Tower. At 6:10, the convoy participating in the self-driving tour to Shanxi left the quiet capital and embarked on the journey to Shanxi. The convoy drove along the Beijing-Shijiazhuang, Shijiazhuang, and Dayun highways. After a journey of more than eight hours, it successfully arrived at the first scenic spot of the Shanxi tour, Pingyao Ancient City, at 2:30 that afternoon.

Self-driving Shanxi Tour convoy (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The spectacular sight of the convoy driving into the ancient city of Pingyao attracted the attention of many local people and tourists. In the parking lot in front of the Pingyao Grand Theater, the fleet of more than 20 cars actually occupied nearly one-third of the space. The motorcade stayed at a folk hotel called Fengyichang on the ancient streets of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Pingyao.

Pingyao Toll Station (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Driving into Pingyao New Town (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Unfortunately, during the interview for the drama festival, due to the plan at the time We only had one and a half hours in the tour, so we only visited Pingyao Ming and Qing Ancient Streets before heading back home. This self-driving trip to Shanxi finally made up for the regrets of the last time.

Entering the Ancient City of Pingyao (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The Ancient City of Pingyao, located in Shanxi, is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2,700 years. It is one of the four most complete ancient cities in China.

North Gate Tower (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The ancient city of Pingyao was built during the period of King Xuan of Zhou from 827 BC to 782 BC. It was built for the Western Zhou Dynasty General Yin Jifu to garrison here. Since the Qin Dynasty government implemented the "prefecture and county system" in 221 BC, Pingyao City has been the seat of the county government and continues to this day.

Trail on the city wall (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The ancient city of Pingyao has gone through many vicissitudes and changes, and has become the most complete prototype of an ancient Chinese county town in the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The ancient city we see now is what it looked like after expansion in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370). The expanded Pingyao City is grand and majestic, with a city circumference of 6.4 kilometers. It is the oldest and largest existing county wall in Shanxi and China.

Pingyao ancient city wall crenels (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Pingyao was formerly known as "Ancient Tao". In the early Ming Dynasty, the city wall was built to defend against foreign invasion from the south. In the third year of Hongwu (AD 1370) The old wall was rebuilt, expanded and completely covered with bricks. Later, Jingde, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli dynasties carried out ten repairs and renovations, updated the towers and added enemy towers. The ancient city of Pingyao had a considerable scale at that time.

Wengcheng (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Several tourist buses carrying nearly fifty members shuttled through the ancient city of Pingyao. Pingyao is centered on the market buildings on the ancient streets of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are four main streets, eight small streets and 72 alleys intertwined with longitude and latitude. They have distinct functions and an orderly layout. The ancient residential houses in the city are all courtyards with green bricks and gray tiles, with clear axes and symmetry. Especially the brick cave-style houses have a strong local flavor. These quaint buildings along the way dazzle cyclists.

Alleys of the ancient city (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The sightseeing bus first came to the north gate of the ancient city to visit the ancient city wall. In the 43rd year of Kangxi (AD 1703), because the emperor passed through Pingyao on his western tour, he built four large towers, making the city even more spectacular. The Pingyao City Wall has a total circumference of 6,163 meters and a wall height of about 12 meters. It divides Pingyao County, which covers an area of ??about 2.25 square kilometers, into two worlds with completely different styles. Within the city wall, the streets, pavements, and market buildings retain the Ming and Qing style; outside the city wall, it is called the New City. This is a wonderful place where ancient and modern buildings are integrated and complement each other, making people daydream about it.

Residential courtyard (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

If you stand on a high place and overlook the ancient city of Pingyao, you will see this flat square city wall, shaped like a turtle. The ancient city has six gates, one in the north and south and two in the east and west. The south gate of the city is the turtle head, and the two wells outside the gate symbolize the eyes of the turtle. The north gate is the turtle's tail, which is the lowest point in the city. All the accumulated water in the city flows out through this.

Looking at the ancient city wall from outside the city (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

There are four barbicans on the east and west sides of the city, facing each other. The gates of the upper west gate, lower west gate and upper east gate all open to the south. It looks like a tortoise's claws extending forward, but the outer gate of the lower east gate of the urn opens directly to the east. It is said that when the city was built, in case the tortoise would crawl away, its left leg was straightened and tied to a platform twenty miles away from the city. This seemingly false legend reflects the ancient people's extreme worship of turtles.

View of the ancient city from the city wall (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Turtles are immortal creatures, and in the minds of the ancients, they are as holy as gods. It embodies the profound meaning of hoping to use the power of the Turtle God to make the ancient city of Pingyao as solid as a rock, forever solid, safe and sound, and to last forever. There are also 72 watchtowers on the city wall, and there are 3,000 crenellations on the outside of the top of the wall. Legend has it that they are a symbol of Confucius's 3,000 disciples and 72 sages.

The head of the Pingyao County Government Office (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

After coming down from the city wall, the cyclists came to visit the Pingyao County Government Office in the ancient city. According to relevant records, the county government is the basic unit of local administrative agencies in my country. It originated in the late Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six kingdoms and divided the world into 36 counties, with counties under the counties. After that, over the long years of more than two thousand years, In ancient times, the county was always the grassroots organization of the feudal regime, and the officials in charge of the county government were also called the local "parent officials". It is rare that ancient government offices still exist in my country. Except for the Zhili Governor's Office, Nanyang Government Office, Huozhou Office and Neixiang County Government Office, Pingyao County Government Office is the best-preserved one among them.

Visit Pingyao County Government (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

This ancient county government is located on Government Street (formerly known as Yamen Street) in the southwest of Pingyao City. It faces north and south on the north-south central axis. More than 200 meters, covering an area of ??more than 26,000 square meters. The year of its initial construction is unknown. According to old county records, there were large-scale additions and renovations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties before it reached its later scale.

County Yamen Qinmin Hall (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Outside the Yamen, there is a Feng Shui Tower in the east and a screen wall in the south. Inside the Yamen, along the central axis from south to north, there are the main gate and the Yimen. , archway, six rooms, lobby, gate, second hall, inner house and other buildings. On the east and west sides of the central axis, there are also buildings such as the Earth Temple, the stage, the grain hall, the governor's hall, and the prison. The master and slave are in an orderly manner, which is in line with the layout of the government offices in the feudal era, with front and back sleeping quarters.

County Yamen Sibu Hall (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The lobby is also called the public hall and the main hall. This is where the county magistrate holds major ceremonies, hears major cases, and greets superior officials. It is the main building in the entire county government. It stands on a platform more than 2 feet above the ground and looks majestic.

Pingyao County Government Daxian Tower (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The second hall was called Tuisitang or Sibutang in the Ming Dynasty. This is mainly a place where general civil affairs are handled. It is also a place where the magistrate's office can take a short break or where staff can discuss political affairs. Therefore, it is called Tuisitang. The inner hall is also called the inner house. The county magistrate not only lives, studies, and works here, but also hears some confidential cases or cases that are not suitable for public disclosure.

Pingyao County Yamen Dalao (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

According to the tour guide, with the rapid development of Pingyao’s tourism industry in recent years, Pingyao’s tourism content has become increasingly rich and colorful. Among them, the Pingyao County Government's project of "promoting cases to the court for trial" attracts many tourists every day.

Photography from Pingyao (Photography: Cao Qun)

It is a pity that this ancient "court trial record" was not able to be appreciated. However, the ancient prisons, cruel instruments of torture, and mighty courts of Pingyao County Government all left a deep impression on the riders.

Guanfeng Tower of County Government (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

After leaving Pingyao County Government, the tourist bus took the riders to the city, which is known as the originator of Chinese financial history and is known as " Visit the "Rishengchang" ticket companies of "Tian Xia No. 1" and "Huitong Tian Xia". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development of commercial economy, some large Shanxi merchants gradually formed a business system in which they set up head offices in Shanxi and branch offices in other places to operate across regions.

The front door of Rishengchang Bank (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Under such circumstances, large-scale wholesale and transportation sales bring huge amounts of cash transportation business, so a kind of A new payment method - "ticket number exchange" came into being. In the fourth year of Daoguang's reign (AD 1824), China's first "Rishengchang" bank account was established based on the "Xi Yucheng" paint shop on Pingyao West Street, which specialized in currency exchange and concurrently engaged in bank deposit business.

A corner of the ticket office (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Three years later, branches were established in Shandong, Henan, Liaoning, Jiangsu and other provinces. In the 1840s, its business further expanded to Japan, Singapore, Russia and other countries. At that time, driven by the "Rishengchang" bank account, Pingyao's bank account industry developed rapidly. At its peak, there were as many as 22 bank accounts here, and it once became the center of China's financial industry. It can be seen that Pingyao occupies a very important position in China's modern financial history.

Iron hat and iron shoes (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

On the way to Pingyao, the team commander Cao Qun left a message about the Rishengchang ticket number to the members. The question of the meaning of "iron hat and iron shoes". Therefore, the riders who came to the Rishengchang ticket office paid most attention to these two objects inside the ticket number after visiting. The interest in the iron shoes and iron hats inside the Rishengchang Ticket Office undoubtedly makes tourists remember the Rishengchang Ticket Office in Pingyao particularly deeply.

Pingyao Ancient City West Street (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Wandering around Pingyao Ancient City’s West Street and the Ming and Qing Streets is the last thing to do when visiting Pingyao. On these two streets, row upon row of simple-style shops and various museums complement each other. Any folk museum you walk into is a piece of history displaying Pingyao's splendid culture.

Pingyao's local products, such as Pingyao beef, stone cakes, and Shanxi vinegar, can be found everywhere on these two streets. After walking down the two streets, all the cyclists returned home with full loads.

A street in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The ancient city of Pingyao is even more interesting at night. Red lights hang high in front of shops on the street. The flow of people passing by is bustling and lively. Among the shops selling antiques, handicrafts, and local specialties, there are also modern bars, saunas, and massage and beauty salons, adding a touch of romance to this ancient city.

Pingyao Ancient City Building (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Although the folk hotel where we stayed that night also had a modern bathroom, the brick kang in the room, the square table on the kang, etc. A collection of Chinese-style furniture gives car enthusiasts a sense of returning to basics. Many cyclists could not forget this Pingyao Fengyichang Folk Hotel where they only spent one night during their exchanges on the return trip.

Night view of bars on the street (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Pingyao is said to have three treasures, and the ancient city wall is one of them. Going northeast from the north gate of the ancient city, there is Zhenguo Temple, which is the second treasure of the ancient city. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall of the temple was built during the Five Dynasties (10th century AD). It is currently the third oldest wooden structure building in China, with a history of more than a thousand years. The colorful sculptures of the Five Dynasties in the hall are rare sculpture art treasures.

Night tour of Ming and Qing Street (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

The third treasure of the ancient city is the Shuanglin Temple located in the southwest of the city and rebuilt in the second year of Wuping in the Northern Qi Dynasty (571 AD). In more than 10 halls of the temple, there are more than 2,000 colored clay sculptures from the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, which are known as the "treasure house of colored sculpture art". In fact, there are countless treasures in the ancient city.

A corner of the Folk Hotel (Photography: Feng Ganyong)

Ancient Pingyao was glorious, and today’s Pingyao is still full of charm. At a time when many ancient cultural cities are being dismembered and destroyed to promote commerce, Pingyao has been so well preserved. It shows people an extraordinary complete picture of cultural, social, economic and religious development in the development of Chinese history.

(Photo: Feng Ganyong)