Pingyao Ancient Town is 94 km southwest of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province. Built-in 1370 during the early Ming Dynasty, it is surrounded by high ramparts inside a maze of alleys. These ramparts, in the shape of a turtle, are 6163 meters long in total and about 12 meters high. Inside the ramparts, the city and its alleys have changed little over the last centuries, which is relatively rare in China. You will have the opportunity to discover houses, streets, and shops still keeping the traditional style of the Ming and Qing dynasties!

The good preservation of the places and the renovation works of the heritage of the old town make Pingyao one of the four best-preserved traditional towns in all of China with the old towns of Lijiang in Yunnan, Huizhou in Anhui, and Langzhong in Sichuan. As such, it was classified on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

If you plan to visit Pingyao, take the time to climb the ramparts to get an overall view of the old town and also visit remarkable sites, such as Rishengchang Bank, Mingqing Street, the Army Museum, etc.