City Guide:

Pingyao with a population of 480,00 and covering an area of 1,253 square kilometers is located in the central plain of Shanxi province, 108 kilometers from Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. It was first established during the Zhou Dynasty (between 827BC-782BC).

Pingyao Ancient Town is the best-preserved one among the most famous four ancient towns in China. It is the assembly place of folk houses in north China where rows upon rows of buildings in the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties stand in well-preserved conditions. Pingyao is famous not only for its old buildings, but also for its history once as a commercial center in China. The earliest bank in China, Piaohao (a firm for exchange and transfer of money) was born here. During the fairly long period of late 19th century and early 20th century, merchants from Shanxi Province nearly dominated all finance in China. While playing an outstanding role in business circles, they painstakingly built the eye-catching courtyards one after another, thus came into being the typical house culture of Shanxi. Pingyao Ancient Town was put in the list of the World Heritage by the UN.

Of all the ancient constructions in Pingyao, the most reputed ones are Wang's Grand Courtyard , a masterpiece of Chinese civil residence architecture of the Qing Dynasty and Pingyao City Wall .