The Walled City of Pingyao

Pingyao was far and above our favorite town in China. Pingyao reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties as a center for banking. Quickly after the start of the 1900's, the city became impoverished and remained virtually unchanged until today. In 1997, it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. Renovation/restoration is happening but it is a delightful place to visit. During our visit, about half of the streets were torn up which made getting around an adventure.

We toured numerous Tongs, banks, but had more fun in the martial arts museum (please see Yahoo for pictures of the banks). The museum explores the history of Huiwulin, a type of martial arts that our friend Court does.

Possibly our favorite part of the visit was walking around the city walls. These city walls are about 11 km. For most of our walk, we were entirely alone. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours looking down into people's courtyards and singing country music.