Architecture > Articles > Walled In: Pingyao

If there's one thing the Chinese love, it's building walls. China's number one attraction is a wall, the longest in the world no less. At some point in history, most Chinese cities worth their silk have put up their own barricades, second lines of defence should the Great Wall fall. Even the Chinese character for 'nation' is enclosed inside a box - as if surrounded by a little wall of its own.

In former capitals Nanjing, Xi'an and Kaifeng, plus the present first city Beijing, remnants of these walls remain. But progress marches on and the ramparts have given way, not only to military attacks and the decay of time but to the incursion of commerce, industry and overpopulation.

Not so Pingyao. Its wall has stood firm since the Ming Dynasty. Escaping the worst of the Cultural Revolution, even today not one skyscraper blocks the view and the sight of cars remains rare. Built with rammed earth covered with bricks, the wall was fortified to reach its present state 600 years ago. It's half a day's stroll around the 6.4km circuit, along which you'll pass 72 watchtowers - a number representing Confucius's 72 highest-flying students.

The reward of walking the wall is the view over the thousand stylised rooftops below you. Many Pingyao residents, explains one homeowner, live in courtyard houses mostly built during the 19th century or earlier. Since the possession of a fine building was the ultimate status symbol at that time, he continues, a family's wealth would be poured into the bricks and mortar.

No such thing as a 99-year lease here: many residences have been in the same family for six generations.Which means there isn't much in the way of modern utilities like gas and electricity. Instead, night-time heating is accomplished by shovelling hot coal into a cavity under the stone beds, a kind of Qing-dynasty era electric blanket. It might be picturesque but for the city-dwellers themselves it's tantamount to living in a slum.

No surprise then that the local government is moving some of the original residents out to a modern district outside the walls. Meanwhile, the hoteliers, chefs and other entrepreneurs are moving in. "I don't want to move out," says the homeowner, who had recently lost all his savings in a dodgy pyramid scheme. "This house is the only asset I've got." But controversies aside, Pingyao looks set to remain a living relic for the foreseeable future.

Established during the reign of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty (827-782 BC), it also boasts a unique place in China's commercial history thanks to its position on the Beijing to Xi'an highway. As early trade increased and it became unsafe to travel with a big wad of cash, so Pingyao filled the niche, developing China's first modern finance system.

If the history of chequebooks and finance rings your register, head to the Rishengchang museum, site of one of the original banks of China. At one time, Pingyao hosted nearly half of the nation's depositaries and there's many more sites charting China's commercial history (including an old-style pawnbroker's complete with its very own pawn god) along the main Southern Street, otherwise known as the 'Ming and Qing' street.

If this doesn't lend its appeal there's plenty more to choose from. Pingyao is so packed with museums, temples and preserved old courtyard houses that it's difficult to choose among them. For the most part they operate on a one-for-all payment system - you buy a ticket for RMB 80 (about US$9) and it is stamped each time you visit a location.

Despite its small size, navigating the city can be a tricky business. A handy reference point is the largest structure, the 18.5m city tower that looks out over the swarm of trinket hawkers and 'antique' stands below. Freelance tour guides tend to hang around popular locales, and (for a price) they may even take you round their neighbours' for tea. But exploring the city is really a matter of losing yourself among the streets and alleys, though there are a couple of highlights worth seeking out.

One is the Yamen, the former county government headquarters. Aside from the serene chess garden and various nooks and crannies illuminating the day-to-day goings on the town's ancient ceremonial and civic buildings look out for its more morbid exhibits. Adjacent to the Yamen's bleak town prison there's a display of torture instruments graded in order of depravity. If this isn't enough then wander on to see the nearby city temple's grisly vision of hell. An entire section is devoted to dioramas of fluorescent demons implementing these same devices in unspeakable ways on naked papier-mache people.

With at least fifteen other temples, public buildings and finance museums, the visitor is spoilt for choice: there's certainly enough here to fill a leisurely weekend. But the real pleasure of Pingyao is simply soaking up the architectural ambience of days gone by. There's few other areas of China that have escaped the modern world in quite the same way. Pingyao provides a brief glimpse into the way into the way China once was, and the way we'd like it still to be.

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