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The Pingyao Ancient City lies in the Pingyao County in the middle of Shanxi Province, facing the middle reaches of Fen River, 100 km away from Taiyuan City. It was first built during the reign of King Xuan (827-782 BC) of the Western Zhou Dynasty and has 2,700 years history. Until this very day, the town looks much the same as when it was the county seat of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The city wall stretches for about six kilometers. The town is protected by a city moat, both three meters deep and wide. Outside the city gate is a drawbridge. Within the city, four big streets and eight small streets radiate to join with 72 lanes. The 3,797 original quadrangle residential houses are all of the same black-colored bricks and gray-colored tiles. Out of the total, over 400 of these courtyard houses are still well preserved. There are also temples of varying size and old-fashioned stores. The city walls, streets, houses, shops, temples etc. in this city have all been standing still as if they were in the past. The original architectural style and features views have never been changed to this day.
Pingyao Ancient City was a masterpiece of the city architecture done by the Chinese Han nationality. The city has kept all the ethical characters and has displayed an unusual complete picture in the development of the histories of culture, society, economy and religion in China.
The old town of Pingyao went on the list of world cultural heritage in 1997
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