2015 China

17 April, Pingyao
Harmony Guesthouse 258CNY

Unesco.org: “The Ping Yao region has been settled by humankind since Neolithic times. There has been an urban settlement on the site ... since at least the Western Zhou Dynasty, since it was fortified with earthen ramparts during the reign of King Xuan (827-782 BC). With the implementation of the system of prefectures and counties in 221 BC, Ping Yao became the seat of a county administration, and continues to play that role. In 1370, during the reign of the Ming Emperor Hong Wu, the city was greatly extended. It was fortified with a massive new defensive wall in masonry and brick and the internal layout was greatly altered, reflecting the strict rules of planning of the Han peoples ... [By] the second half of the 19th century the banking community of Ping Yao dominated Chinese financial life.

The circuit of walls built in the late 14th century measures 6 km in length, the precise dimension for a city of this grade according to Han prescriptions. There are six fortified gates and 72 massive bastions along its length ... The internal street layout is symmetrical and rectilinear. The main cross-streets are lined with shops built in the 17th-19th centuries which effectively preserve the historic townscape ... The prosperity deriving from trade, and later from the draft banks, resulted in Ping Yao being endowed over the centuries with many high-quality, well built private houses, and these have survived to a large extent. They follow the feudal and hierarchical Han tradition closely, with distinguishing local features. They are built round four sides of an open courtyard ...”

After watching a performance outside the south gate, we mounted and strolled the city wall from the south gate to the north. Wikipedia: “The city walls of Pingyao were constructed in the 3rd year of the Hongwu Emperor (1370). The walls have six barbican gates. The north and south sides have one gate each. The east and west sides have two gates each. This pattern is similar to that of a turtle* (the head, tail and four legs), earning Pingyao the moniker “Turtle City”. The walls measure about 12 metres high, with a perimeter of 6,000 metres. A 4-metre wide, 4-metre deep moat can be found just outside the walls. Aside from the four structured towers at the four corners, there are also 72 watchtowers and more than 3,000 battlements. In 2004, part of the southern walls collapsed but was reconstructed. However, the rest of the city walls are still largely intact and are considered among the best-preserved ancient city walls on this scale.”

We also visited a couple of Pingyao’s many tourist sites including Rishengchang, site of China’s first draft bank**.

Another lovely day in China.

* Symbol of longevity.

** Wikipedia: Rishengchang Exchange House. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants developed extensive trade routes throughout China and overseas, with Pingyao at the centre of this trade. In those days, traders paid for their goods with silver coins, and in those dangerous times it was unsafe for a merchant to carry large sums in silver from one city to another. In 1823 the first piaohao (alteratively translated as “exchange house”, “draft bank”, or “remittance shop”) was opened, and these piaohao provided remittance services, accepted deposits, and made loans. Named Rishengchang, or “Sunrise Prosperity”, this first exchange house established branches in different cities in China and abroad and used bank drafts to move money from one city to another. Subsequently, Pingyao became the center of the nation's banking industry, with over 50% of the country’s piaohao headquartered within Pingyao’s ancient walls. This original head office of the Rishengchang Exchange Shop – consisting of a series of rooms built around several courtyards – was restored and converted to a museum in 1995. Rishengchang Exchange House had a total of 43 branches located in key Chinese cities as well as in Japan, Singapore, and Russia. Altogether some 22 piaohao were headquartered in Pingyao, and they oversaw a network of 404 branches. Rishengchang survied for 108 years before collapsing in 1932.”