Ping Yao

Ping Yao
Ping Yao is an integral and well-preserved ancient Chinese city from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). Its urban plan and defensive line have not significantly changed since.

It is now renowned for its well-preserved ancient city wall and the imposing buildings associated with banking, for which Ping Yao was the major centre for the whole of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Among its monuments are:
- Ten Thousand Buddha Hall of Zhen Guo Temple
- Main Hall of the Confucian Temple
- Qing Xu Daoist Temple
- Temple of the Town God
- County Administrative Building
- City Tower
- several private residences

Prison . Walled cities .



Visit October 2007

There are two sides to Ping Yao. I stayed there for 1.5 days and at first I noticed mainly its poor living conditions. When you look down at the town from its city walls you see a lot of dust and dirt and cramped housing. There are quite a number of public toilets, from which I deduct that many houses don't have private bathrooms. In my first half hour roaming around the city's backstreets I also came across two men peeing in the street (and they were neither drunk nor beggars).

Later on I began visiting the courtyard buildings and temples that are now in use as museums. That is where all the wealth was. Behind a simple looking entrance there are vast complexes. The bank, the service where once could hire armed bodyguards, the judicial court with its prison and torture instrumens, the chamber of commerce and the residence of the founder of the first bank, Lei Lutai. There's even a shrine where you can pray to the God of Wealth!

There are many guesthouses with a traditional courtyard setting where you can spend the night. I did so at Yide hotel, situated in the 18th century house of tradesman. This is well recommended: it's a welcome change to sleep in a bare room on the ground floor where fresh air and neighbourhood noises come in, after all those highrise Chinese business hotels that look the same. I even enjoyed the bean bag pillow and slept like a log.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

():
I lived in Pingyao for three and a half years and enjoyed it, except for the severe air and noise pollution. I have tried without success to convince the tour bureau that they need to sell individual tickets to the places. The ticket is a bargain if you have three days which you will need if you want to see everything in Pingyao, plus the two temples outside. It's a great place to wander around and with a local guide, you can visit some private homes and talk to people whose several times great grandparents built them.
You can bike to Shuanglin Temple and to Zhenguo Temple, too altho that's a long haul. The streets are really too crowded to bike in the city; it's easier to walk.
Skip the newspaper museum unless you can read Chinese.
Getting to Xi'an is a scam since, because Pingyao is a 'county city' it gets few hard sleeper tickets so your guesthouse has to order them from Taiyuan and this adds more than 50% to the cost.
 
Nachiket Gadre (India):
I went to Ping Yao in May 2005 as a field trip from my International school in Beijing. It was realy exicting to find out how the poor half of China lives. It was fun expiriancing the ancient cultures of China. Is was fun finding out how the old bank system is China worked as there were many banks in Ping Yao. It was truly an amazing experiance!
 
Jan Staples (USA):
We went with Grandmaster Huang, Chien Liang, of Baltimore, Maryland, with a group of 30 students. This city was phenomenal, very beautiful and striking with its wall surrounding the entire city. We were warmly received, had fun shopping, and watched a 14th century trial, with the accused being punished. We also saw part of an opera and many artifacts in a museum setting. One of the best days of our trip.
 
Aukje de Jong (Netherlands):
During my visit to Ping Yao in 2000, I learned it had just been added to the World Heritage Site-list. It was until then mostly visited by Chinese tourists. In this town I experienced the feel of 'ancient'-China. Hardly any foreign tourists and a walled town-life which seemed to haven't changed during the last century. Bikes were the main transportation within the wall. It is my favourite Chinese town!
 
Dave Kennedy (America):
I visited Ping Yao in August of 2002. I was impressed with its factual existence in the same form as a typical ancient Chinese town. The vehicle traffic inside the wall was virtually nonexistence. I saw no building taller than two stories. I was able to walk around the city on top of the city wall. I was also able to observe construction in the ancient style as properties were being refurbished. It was definitely worth the visit.
 


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