Day 4 sees us on a 90-minute drive from Taiyuan to a well-preserved ancient city, founded in the Zhou dynasty, called Pingyao Ancient City.
Pingyao is a walled city in central Shanxi, China.
I recall that my wife and I went there 15 years ago. We and two friends took a flight from Shanghai, landed in Taiyuan, and were picked up by a man with his car.
We explored the old city, walked the top of the old city walls, and stayed a night in a cold and original Ching dynasty inn, the type of inn you see in Chinese martial arts movies of the 1970s and 1980s. The sleeping bunk was solid hard. Warm bathing water was a trickle.
Pingyao was the financial centre of China from the 16th century to the end of the Ching dynasty. Its traders were rich due mainly to the numerous salt mines; and coal mines in Shanxi.
China’s banking system started here. As the journey from here to Peking was far and dangerous with bandits, they invented the bank draft system called piaohao.
A trader doesn’t need to bring lots of silver when travelling on long distance business. He just needs to cash his bank draft on arrival.
Another pioneer trade was the courier system with guards, usually headed by a kung fu master.
HH Kung is a famous son of Shanxi. His forefathers’ wealth came from Shanxi’s position as a banking and trade hub.
During the Boxer Rebellion, he helped the Western missionaries.
Due to this connection, he was sent to the Beautiful Country to study in college and then university, where he graduated from Yale with an M.A. in economics.
He married Soong Ai Ling. He rose to become the Minister of Finance and later Premier of Chiang Kai Shek’s government.
Besides Pingyao, in my last visit, we also explored in the nearby countryside a courtyard home where the imperial family stayed while fleeing from the western armies that vandalised the [old] Summer Palace.
We also visited the courtyard house where the movie Raise the Red Lantern, starring Gong Li, was shot.
Lwh@ on the road to Pingyao Ancient City,
15 March 2025, Saturday.