The Pingyao Ancient City Guide

Pingyao Ancient City is the most important travel site when you visit Pingyao. It situated in Pingyao County, right in the middle of Shanxi Province, just 100 km away from Taiyuan. It is renowned as a hotbed of historical and cultural relics. The city has over 3000 battlements and 72 watchtowers according to the disciples of Confucius. Though the city has been repaired numerous times, the city has been preserved to keep the original look of the Ming Dynasty. It is shaped like a quadrate and surrounded by city walls 12 meters high and a moat 4 meters deep, 4 meters

wide which has two gates on each side, making the city look like an urn. The city has six "urns” and looks like a tortoise, with the four gates on the east and west being his legs while the south, inner, and outer gate are supposedly his head. Furthermore, the city walls, shops, temples, etc. authentically resemble the monuments of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In all, the Pingyao Ancient City is one of the four best-preserved cities in China. In fact, the city was awarded the most outstanding heritage in the world by UNESCO on December 3rd, 1997. The title is

well deserved as the city has kept all the cultural and historical foundations of China. The ancient city wall was made of earth at first starting in the period of King Xuan, Western Zhong dynasty (827 BC ~782 BC). In the year of Hongwu 3 rd, Ming dynasty, the rocky brick made city wall on the basic of the ancient city of the Western Zhong dynasty was augmented and came into being under Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's policy that encouraged building city and forts to meet the defense requirements. Here's some guide information in your travel of Pingyao Ancient City : Address: Pingyao County, Jinzhong Area, Shanxi Province. Contact number: 0086-354-5627660  Admission Fee:CNY120  Opening Hours: 08:00-18:30

• the Rishengchang Exchange Shop
• Chenghuang Temple
• the Ancient Ming and Qing Streets
• Qiao Family's compound
• The Pingyao Ancient City
• Shuanglin Temple
• Qiaojiabu Folk Culture Museum