Chinese Specialty

In the last century, Pingyao staged a prosperous commercial picture. It comprised all kinds of business forms such as exchange shops, ancient private banks, pawnshops, pharmacies, silk shops and retail stores. They busily lined up along the streets and the alleys offering fans, lanterns, costumes and other handicrafts that were unique to ancient China. Such flourish scenes once won Pingyao the reputation “younger brother of Beijing”. Decades later, the bustle of Pingyao has gradually faded in the whirligig of time, leaving today the ancient buildings lonesome and cheerless.

90 miles southwest along the wine-smelled Fen River away from the city of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, you will spot the Pingyao ancient town, which appeared antique and gentle. It is another UN-endorsed historical and cultural city in the world, one of the best preserved. Step over the city moat, travel through the arch city gate and climb to the top of the city towers, and you will have a glimpse of grey tile roofs and upward tips of the eaves, and also the flat and vast lands around the town. Inside town, the ancient stores keep their original looks. That’s why many Chinese costume plays are shot on location here. Actually, this ancient town we have today was near to die away because of all-around new layout plans came out in the 80s. But for several professors and archeologists who appealed for historic values of this place, have already gone the hundreds of alleys and folk houses which are now living fossils of Ming and Qing dynasty cultures.