The ancient city of Pingyao in Shanxi is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2,700 years. It is one of the four most well-preserved ancient cities in China. Tourists with a great interest for China’s history should definitely visit this amazing location. It is the only ancient county town in China that has succeeded in applying the entire ancient city to declare the world cultural heritage. Pingyao was formerly known as “ancient pottery”. In the early Ming Dynasty, the city wall was built to defend against foreigners from the south. In the third year of Hongwu (AD 1370), the wall was rebuilt and expanded, and bricks were fully covered. After that, Jingde, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli generations underwent ten repairs and repairs, renovated the towers, and added enemy platforms. In the forty-three years of Kangxi (1703 AD), the emperor’s west patrol road passed through Pingyao, and a large tower was built on all sides, making the city more spectacular. Pingyao City Wall has a total circumference of 6163 meters and a wall height of about 12 meters. It divides the Pingyao County with an area of ​​about 2.25 square kilometers into two worlds with different styles. Streets, pavements, and city buildings within the city walls retain the Ming and Qing dynasties; outside the city walls are called new cities. This is a wonderful place where ancient and modern architectures are integrated into one another, reflecting each other and endlessly reflecting.

This solid and complete masonry city has played a great role in military defense and flood control for hundreds of years. The streets of the city, ancient government offices, city buildings, shops, residential houses, etc. still retain the original Ming dynasty. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit.
The ancient city of Pingyao has a long history and many cultural relics. It fully embodies the historical features of the 17th to 19th centuries and is a historical museum of architectural art in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its ancient buildings and cultural relics are rare in China in terms of quantity and taste. They have extremely important historical, artistic, and scientific value for the study of the changes of ancient Chinese cities, urban architecture, human settlements, and the development of traditional culture.