My Feeling of Pingyao Ancient City

When I go to Pingyao Ancient City the first time, I feel that it is the ancient city which is under well preserved. There are stable walls, straight alley, simple citizens and wrinkled old man……

There is not as delicate as Lijiang and Dali ancient city, not as peace and quiet as Fenghuang ancient city, not as warm and mild as Yangtze River delta. Except for different style of building in different places, every ancient town is similar with minor differences. But Pingyao Ancient City is so different because there is no river surrounded here.

From my view, I think that water is important to a city, and water vitalizes a city. In Pingyao, whether you overlooking in the gate tower or placing yourself into alley, you scan widely and find a piece of yellow from the tall walls to the small house along the side of street. Frankly speaking, the pattern of Pimgyao ancient city is not the ancient city I like, and it is not the perfect inhabitation for people to live because of lack of river. But if you walking down the street slowly and peacefully, you will have a new feeling of this city. Why Pingyao rendering it to be of uniquely heavy historical weight not because of natural beauty but brilliant and diligent people of Shanxi have accumulated. That’s why Pingyao ancient city is so unique compared to other ancient city.

Only the people who go to Pingyao ancient city would know that this city was financial center of China a half century ago which was equal to Shanghai at that time. As the originated place of Shanxi merchants, the first in China, called Rishengchang which means sunrise over prosperity was established in Pingyao. After three years, Rishengchang set up many branches in different province in China. The number of branches as many as 22 what is so surprising at that time. At Pingyao’s height, 22 banks here thrived on the flourishing trade in Shanxi Province. Under the efforts Shanxi merchants had made, Pingyao became the financial center in China at that time.

Besides banks, another character of Pingyao is barbican design of gate. Barbican is a small city build outside of the gate. Barbican is built to strengthen the defensive of castle or the pass, Usually barbican is not build in the same straight line of the gate in case of protecting the gate from being attacked by battering ram and other weapons. When enemies make their attack, even they break through barbican; there is main gate for defense. And because of barbican is so narrow that a large scale of troops can not attack at this narrow place, which postpones enemies’ attack in some degree. And the defenders on the top of the wall can shoot down from a height, so that is the origin of the name of barbican.

Pingyao is an ancient city with 2700 years history. It is not easy to preserve ancient city during a long time. Many well-preserved cultural relics not only represent for architecture form, construction method and material standard in different periods but also reflect art progress and aesthetics achievement in different regions and different nationalities. This ancient city is a city which belongs to people, that is, it is a life-like city without nature to beautify its scenery, and people here can create their beautiful life and beautiful and unique image of life. Pingyao is valuable humanistic legacy in Shanxi even in the whole world.