Inside the Walled Streets of Pingyao
The walled town of Pingyao on the Fen River: a plan that can still be read from the walls, twenty nationally protected sites inside it, and the 1997 inscription that covers the town and two outer temples.
Jinzhong.
Jinzhong is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi, on the eastern rim of the Taiyuan Basin and bordering Hebei to the east. Its ground falls in three steps: the Taihang Mountains in the east, a belt of hills in the middle, and the flat plain of the Fen River in the west. The basin is where the region's money was made, and the city keeps the evidence: the walled town of Pingyao, the financial houses that once made up more than half of all the institutions in the country, and the merchant residences of Qi County, Lingshi and Yuci. In 1999 the prefecture became a city, and its former seat at Yuci became a district of it.
Jinzhong
Rishengchang: An Early Chinese Bank in Pingyao
The first piaohao in China worked from a shopfront in Pingyao, moving money without moving silver, and ran a network that made central Shanxi the financial centre of the Qing state.
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The Painted Figures of Shuanglin Temple
Shuanglin Temple holds the painted clay figures that made it famous: 2,052 are reported, 1,650 survive, and many of the losses were made in the Cultural Revolution.
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Reading the Qiao Family Compound by Its Courtyards
The Qiao compound at Qiaojia Bao village shows what a merchant's money bought: 313 rooms in six large courtyards, begun in 1756, and a 5A rating withdrawn in 2019.
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The Wang Compound on a Stone Slope
One of several Chinese compounds called the Wang Family Compound, the Lingshi house in Jinzhong is a nationally protected merchant residence, and its name needs care.
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The Chang Family Compound and the School Inside It
The Chang family built a walled town of houses in their own village over two centuries; only the restored part, about 120,000 square metres, can be walked today.
ReadA Market Town: Yuci Old City
Yuci Old City is a reconstruction rather than a survival: the old county town was demolished around 2000 and replaced by a pseudo-antique street district.
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Mian Mountain: Cliffs, Cables and the Path Up
A Taoist mountain in Jiexiu reached by cliff paths, tied to the story of Jie Zhitui, and repaired on private money since 1995 before its scenic area opened in 2000.
ReadZhangbi: A Village Fortified for the Ground Beneath
A walled village in Jiexiu with three levels of tunnels under a single dressed-stone street, protected as a national site since 2006 and still explained by local account.
ReadPlaces
Pingyao Ancient City
The walled county town of Pingyao on the Fen River: walls raised in 1370, a street plan still readable from the ramparts, and the 1997 World Heritage inscription that covers the town and two outer temples.
Rishengchang Piaohao
The first piaohao, or remittance house, in China: a counter in a Pingyao shop that moved money without moving it, and in 2006 a site protected at the national level.
Shuanglin Temple
A temple six kilometres from Pingyao whose painted clay figures number in their thousands: 2,052 are reported, 1,650 survive, and many of the losses were made in the Cultural Revolution.
Qiao Family Compound
The merchant house of Qiao Zhiyong at Qiaojia Bao village in Qi County: 313 rooms in six large and nineteen small courtyards, begun in 1756 and now a museum.
Wang Family Compound
The Wang Family Compound of Lingshi County, Jinzhong: one of the Shanxi merchant houses, protected at the national level, and a name shared with compounds in half a dozen other provinces.
Chang Family Compound
A castle-like Qing merchant compound at Chewang village in Yuci District: eight gates, more than 1,500 rooms and 13 gardens, of which about 120,000 square metres have been restored and opened.
Yuci Old City
The old county town of Yuci, largely demolished around 2000 and rebuilt as a scale pseudo-antique street district, with the City God Temple and a few main streets surviving.
Mount Mian
A Taoist mountain in Jiexiu, Jinzhong, with a cliff walkway, the story of Jie Zhitui attached to its slopes, and a repair programme paid for by a coal company since 1995.
Zhangbi Fortress
A walled village at Jiexiu whose ground is dug through: three levels of tunnels run beneath a single dressed-stone street, inside a fortress protected nationally since 2006.
Photo credits and rights
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Pingyao's gate tower above the stone signs at the foot of the wall.Tiger@西北 / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
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The national-protection plaque naming the Rishengchang bank site.Zhangzhugang / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
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The Thousand Buddha Hall of Shuanglin Temple, Pingyao.Patrick20242023 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
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A Qiao compound courtyard with red lanterns and visitors.螺钉 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
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The national-protection plaque of the Wang Family Compound.Zhangzhugang / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
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Mian Mountain near Jiexiu: qilin statues at a temple stair below the cliff.Arron Qu / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
