Introduction of Pingyao

Pingyao is a Chinese city and county in central Shanxi province. It lies about 715 km from Beijing and 80 km from the provincial capital, Taiyuan. During the Qing Dynasty Pingyao was a financial center of China. It is now renowned for its well-preserved ancient city wall, and is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Pingyao still retains its city layout from the Ming and Qing dynasties, conforming to a typical bagua pattern. More than 300 sites in or near the city have ancient ruins. Preserved Ming- and Qing-style residences number close to 4,000. The streets and storefronts still largely retain their historical appearance.

The traditional architectural structures of the whole ancient buildings in Pingyao city have the characteristics of four-square symmetry and other traditional cultural features of the Han Nationality. Pingyao County is famous for historical relics with various cultural contents. The rich ancient architectural buildings and historical relics treasure articles have been well preserved since the 10th century.

Main attractions in Pingyao

The City Wall

The city walls of Pingyao were constructed in the 3rd year of the Hongwu 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.

Rishengchang Exchange Shop

It is located in Pingyao, Shanxi province, China, is considered the first draft bank in China's history. It was founded in 1823.

Jin Ancestral Temple 

Jin Ancestral Temple is a temple complex garden. It was built around 400 A.D.It consists of many ancient building of different styles -- wooden ancestral hall, temple, pavilion, terrace, granite pagoda ... they were built by ancient artisans of different dynasties, throughout the past thousands years, but scattered orderly and existed harmoniously with nature. It situated in the area from where the "Jin" river origin, on the foot of XuanWeng Hill, about 25 kilometer southwest of TaiYuan . The Hall of Holy Mother, the sculptures, tablets and other historical relics in the temple still remain intact.

The Qiao Family Courtyard

The Qiao Family Courtyard is greatly admired as a very special artistic treasure by both common people and architects; it is also one of the ten best tourist spots in Shanxi Province. The Qiao Family Courtyard was built in during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) in the Qing Dynasty, and occupied 8,724.8 square meters of land, consisting of 6 large yards and 20 small yards with 313 houses in total. It was repaired and rebuilt many times during the reigns of emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty and the beginning years of the Republic of China (1911-1949). It was an old Chinese residential courtyard that thrived for over two centuries. When you look down at the overall yard above ground, it looks just like"喜喜"（double happiness in Chinese）.

Climate of Pingyao

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