Welcome to Shanxi for tourism. I'm your guide. You can call me coco. TodayI'll take you to the ancient city of Pingyao, which is the best preservedancient city in China. It's more than 1000 years ago. Because the shape of theancient city is like a turtle, people call it "turtle City".
The wall of Pingyao ancient city is very wide, with big bricks on it. Therewere several cannons on the lookout of the city wall. They were the mostpowerful weapons at that time, so they were given the name of "Shenwu general".People can take pictures here because "soldiers who don't want to be generalsare not good soldiers.".
Let's go to the county government again. The county government faces south.Two big stone lions squat on both sides of the main gate. They open their mouthsand look very powerful. The barrier of Yamen is very high, and the two gates arethick and heavy, painted with vermilion. Walking into the courtyard, the Eastand West rooms are the places where taxes and grain were collected in ancienttimes. Each of them has six caves, implying liudashun. Further inside, there isa large main hall, where the ancient county magistrate worked. There is a largeplaque with "bright mirror hanging high" on it. On the left and right sides,there are many instruments of torture used by the court, which makes people feelsolemn when they enter. Around the main hall into the backyard, is the countyLord eat and rest place, the door hanging a pair of couplets, meaning that thepeople as parents. Do practical things for the people.
From the county government, we strolled along a street in Ming and QingDynasties. It's full of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Theshop facades and plaques are also ancient styles. If people wear ancientclothes, they can make costume plays here. This is the picture I took on thisstreet.
At the last stop, let's go to Rishengchang bank, the earliest bank inChina. There are two wax figures in the accounting room on the right. One seemsto be collecting money and the other is keeping accounts. It is said that abookkeeper here can earn eighty Liang silver a year. At that time, one or twosilver can buy one mu of land. There are strict anti-counterfeiting measures onbanknotes. In order to prevent regular customers from deciphering them, 300 setsof passwords have been changed in 100 years. When I came to the backyard, thewalls were thick and high, and there were many coins in the cracks. It is saidto show the strength of the host family.
This is the end of the tour of Pingyao ancient city. Thank you.