Ancient(?) Pingyao (平遥)

Pingyao is probably like nowhere else in China, nowhere that I have heard about anyway. It's an 'ancient' city according to tourist info, and the locals are proud to emphasize that the city walls and buildings are original and not rebuilt or renovated in anyway, just 'well maintained'. Most of this well preserved architecture is from 19th century, which is in real terms not really that long ago; I'm not sure what exactly the definition of 'ancient' is, though I always thought it hinted at something rather older than 200 years.

However, it is an interesting place to wander around and reminded me in some ways of Khiva, the ancient walled city in Western Uzbekistan. Though the architectural design is of course quite different, the layout and atmosphere of this small walled city has similarities; narrow, quiet, traffic free lanes, local homes hidden away down small alleys where old ladies hang out their washing and kids and animals run around chasing each other, tourist stalls and shops selling local arts and crafts, locals get on with their daily life, preparing food, washing, cleaning, repairing, playing cards, Chinese chess or just sitting around drinking tea. The town has a little buzz of life and activity everywhere you go. And in the evenings as the sun falls towards the horizon of the city walls, the town is illuminated with a wonderful orange glow.


Left: Archway by the Eastern gate of Pingyao.
Centre: Men sit around the streets all day, chatting and smoking.
Right: Communist Party magazine from the newspaper museum.


Left: Streets being improved constantly, by a strong female workforce.
Centre: Ying and Yang, the symbol of Taoism.
Right: Cycling is the best way to get around the city walls.

Pingyao's walls are 1500m long on each side, with four main gates one at each cardinal point. The walls surround a dusty little town, whose streets are constantly being dug up/replaced which generates a lot of dust and dirt all around, it didn't feel like the healthiest of places to walk around, which when you consider the pollution in many Chinese cities, is saying something.

I visited a number of sites, many are museums in old houses, home to exhibitions of different arts or places of historical interest, such as martial arts, ancient newspapers, the oldest bank in China and the home of its rich founder. Most are quite similar, courtyard, buildings, displays and seeing a few is enough. There are also a couple of temples, gate towers and the option to walk around the city walls which offer some nice scenes of life in Pingyao. Apart from the dust it's quite nice to wander, there are no vehicles within the old walled city, just bicycles and motor rickshaws which can run around the outside, there is no neon lighting here either! At dusk, the streets are lit only by the red lanterns that hang outside many of the local shops, cafes, guesthouses. Comparing again to Khiva, this was a difference, there the town descended into total darkness at dusk.

Outside the walls, this small city carries on much like any other, with food stalls in the streets selling mystery meats, water melons and pineapples on sticks, while cars, mini-buses, pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, motor rickshaws all weave in and out of each other in some seemingly chaotic fashion that seems to function quite well.

Last day I took a cycle ride to Shuanglin Si, a temple a few kms outside of Pingyao, on the way the roads were even dirtier and dustier that the old city. Dust/sand on the roads blown up by passing vehicles created a scene similar to a desert sandstorm, and, I was unfortunate enough to have a lorry full of sand drive by, scattering a large amount over me which made my head itch the rest of the day. Even if the pedal had not broken off the bicycle when I was a km or so short of the temple, making cycling pretty difficult, (have you ever tried cycling with just one pedal ?) and resulting in a long walk/ride home, it was still one of my least interesting and worst cycle rides ever !