A PLACE, A STORY / Jinzhong
Pingyao Ancient City
Walls enclose streets shaped by centuries of town life. Pingyao’s banking history adds another layer to its familiar-looking courtyards.
© AkakiBalanchivadze · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons. Resized and compressed. · Original source · License
© AkakiBalanchivadze · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons. Resized and compressed. · Original source · License
Pingyao’s old town preserves a pattern of streets, houses and public buildings developed across several centuries. Its surviving urban form is closely associated with the Ming and Qing periods, while banking businesses made the town especially important in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The walls offer a clear outline; the smaller doorways and courtyards suggest daily life within it. Pick one detail with a friend and imagine what questions you would ask about its use.
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