Pingyao - Ancient Chinese City Where the First Chinese Bankbook Birthed

One of the key commercial cities in north China from the 16th century, in the mid- 19th century Pingyao reached its prime as a national financial center. It was known as "a miniature Beijing" and "the most affluent city in China" for its brisk businesses and well-managed banks. Pingyao residents had a high reputation for their acumen in business and investment. Now the ancient city of Pingyao stands as surviving testimony to its past prosperity.

- The Imposing City Wall

Approaching Pingyao, the first thing you see is the high ancient city wall stretching across the landscape. The city itself, with a history of over 2,800 years, was constructed during the reign of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty (827-782 BC). In the third year of Hongwu's reign in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1370), the original city wall was extended and reinforced for military purposes. Up to today, 600 years later, the area and layout of the city has rarely changed. Such high- walled cities, once seen everywhere in China, can now rarely be seen. This makes the city of Pingyao even more valuable as the epitome and evidence of the long history of the Chinese people.

Climbing the stairs to the top of the wall at Fengyi Gate, you are first greeted by the sight of a watchtower and a square outer gateway. There are altogether six such gateways, each having two gates, the exterior one facing sideways, at an angle to the inner one. Such a design effectively obstructed the enemy's view and well shielded the defending soldiers movements. On the outer side of the city wall is a battlement 2 meters high, called the "horse-blocking wall" as it is higher than a horse. Thus actions on the wall could not be seen from outside the wall. The 72 watchtowers standing in an orderly fashion along the wall form a line of defense that has a commanding view over the surrounding terrain. The protruding "horse-faces" underneath both reinforced the watchtowers and provided advantageous positions for the defending soldiers to attack the enemy who had reached the foot of the wall. The moat, over which there were once six drawbridges, surrounded the city, acting as the first line of defense for the city.

- The ancient city wall of Pingyao.

Making a circuit on a pedicab on the top of the wall is a unique experience. The 10-meter-high, 6,163-meter-long and 3-to-6-meter-thick wall was built with rammed earth covered with bricks. The 72 watchtowers and 3,000 crenels represent Confucius' 72 most distinguished pupils and the number of all his pupils, reflecting the great philosopher's influence in ancient Chinese theories of warfare.

An aerial view of the city wall is even more amazing: its eastern, western and northern sides are straight, while the southern side meanders along the Zhongdu River, so that the city looks like a giant turtle: the southern gate representing the head, with two wells in front as the eyes, the northern gate the turtle's tail, and the four gates on the eastern and western walls the turtle's legs. The southeastern outer gate faces east, while the other three face south. It was said that, fearing this "turtle" would move away, the people dragged one of its legs and tied it to the Lutai Pagoda at Cixiang Temple. The design reflects the ancient people's worship of the turtle as well as the architectural principle of "suiting local conditions and turning perilous places into strategic vantage points," while at the same time is in conformity with the fengshui theory that "the best location for a city is south of a mountain and north of water." The city for centuries has lived up to the wishes of the residents of ancient Pingyao. On 5 August 1977, when there was a single rainfall of 325 mm, the city wall protected the population of over 40,000 within from a huge flood.

- Busy Streets around the City Tower

Scanning the city from the wall, the most eye-catching building is the 18.5-meter- high city tower in the distance. Located in the city center it is the highest building in Pingyao. It is said that the tower ensures the city's safety and prosperity. Coming down the city wall and walking along West Street for a few minutes, you can reach a carefully constructed, three-storied tower standing on South Street, and see the two large engraved characters for "happiness" and "longevity" on top of the glazed tiles of its double-layered eaves. The city tower was built in the 27th year of Kangxi's reign during the Qing Dynasty (1688), and is regarded as one of the eight scenic spots of Pingyao.

The ancient city, 2.25 square kilometers in area, viewed from the top floor of the tower, is a neat network of streets and lanes. Centered around the city tower, the 4 main streets and 72 curving lanes form the shape of the Eight Trigrams, making for a cleverly designed and compact layout. Facing south on South Street, you'll find the temple of the Town God, the Confucian temple and Taoist temple on the left, and the government office, temple of the God of War and Buddhist temple on the right, symmetrically located with the street as the axis. This design gives us a glimpse of the Chinese feudal custom of "civil on the left and military on the right."

The buildings of black bricks and gray tiles in the ancient city mingle harmoniously with the yellow earth of the Loess Plateau. This ancient architectural complex composed of the city wall, city tower, streets, lanes, shops, temples and residential buildings, is China's best-preserved city of the Ming and Qing dynasties, representative of the architecture and construction of cities of the Central Plains Han people at that time.

In the past, surrounding the city tower were over 220 shops, including banks, silk stores, pawnshops, herbal medicine dispensaries, teahouses, taverns, antique shops and inns. Now the four main streets are still flanked by many well-decorated shops, crowded and busy, reminiscent of its former heyday.

Next to the city tower is an ancient-looking shop, named "Changshengyuan," which has been making yellow millet wine and pancakes ever since the Western Han Dynasty of over 2,000 years ago. In fact, its original name was "Jushengyuan." In 1900, when Empress Dowager Cixi, fleeing the foreign-occupied capital to Chang'an, arrived at Pingyao, she was presented with yellow millet wine, pancakes and beef made by this shop. Greatly pleased with the food, Cixi, as a sign of favor, added the character "Chang", meaning "eternal," to the shop's name, hence its present name. Now it is a must for tourists to drink yellow millet wine, eat pancakes and watch the wine-making process at Changshengyuan.

Pingyao is one of the homes of the Shanxi merchants, the richest among the ten most successful provincial merchant clans in modern China. With barren soil, a relatively larger population than could be fed by the arable land, and a traditional view that preferred business and profit-making, in the Ming and Qing dynasties most people from Pingyao took to trade and business. They traveled all over China and even overseas, bringing great wealth to their hometown. There was once a saying that "Pingyao is a city of uncountable wealth."

To find the traces of the Shanxi merchants, the first place to go is West Street, which was once flanked by draft banks, the precursor to modern China's banks. Located here was the famous "Rishengchang," meaning "prosperity with the rising sun" -- a draft bank specializing in remittances, deposits and loans. Having attained success in business in Beijing during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, merchants from Pingyao were specially concerned about safety and convenience in transporting large amounts of silver. To settle this problem, in the third year of Emperor Daoguang's reign (1823), Lei Lutai founded Rishengchang, the first draft bank in China, and originated "remittance draft banks," a network of remittance and cashing. This brought about a great change in traditional Chinese finance, ushering in a new era where transactions by draft took the place of those by cash. Thus the ancient city of Pingyao became the cradle of the modern Chinese finance industry, and the draft-banking center of the country. In its prime, the city contained the headquarters of 22 national draft banks, 40 percent of the total 51 draft banks in the country. Their branches across the country formed a vast financial network. Rishengchang, for example, had branches in 77 cities and towns, covering all the major cities and provinces in China. It even had as many as 404 branches in Korea, Japan, Singapore, Russia, India and other countries. As an important national financial center, Pingyao in a way controlled the lifelines of the extensive and complex financial system of the Qing empire.

Today, at the site of the former Rishengchang Draft Bank stands the Draft Banking Museum. The thick wooden gate facing the street and the gilded signboard are as imposing as before. The building of Rishengchang is a three-rowed compound. Its storefront, hallway and drawing room form an axis extending from north to south, with the courtyards and wing-rooms located symmetrically on both sides. In the first row were cashiers' offices, each with an underground vault. The administrative office and accountant's office were in the second row. On the eastern side of the compound is a path that was used for carriages. The southern side courtyard is a narrow passage flanked by 10.2-meter-high windowless walls, with a metal grating overhead. This design effectively safeguarded against fires and theft. All the outer walls of the compound are windowless and doorless, except for the thick wooden gate at the storefront. This design is characteristic of traditional central Shanxi residential buildings and shops.

The Draft Banking Museum has a collection of many former drafts. Watermarks were used: looking closely, a character chang can be detected on each draft. There are also codes against counterfeiting. The design of green and red lines on the draft face were finely block-printed. These drafts functioned like today's checks and credit cards.

- Well-designed Residences within High Walls

As Shanxi and Anhui merchants were equally successful, Shanxi and Anhui residences enjoy like fame. However, in terms of the area and density of preserved architecture, the city of Pingyao is considered first in China. It has preserved as many as 3,798 valuable traditional buildings, among which 448 are intact.

- A decorated window of a residence in Pingyao.

The centuries-old compounds, enclosed by high walls, though rather weather- beaten, are still imposing. The rooms within are symmetrically laid out along an axis. The common two or three rows of rooms are divided by a low wall or an eaved gate decorated with upside-down buds. The major rooms often have carved decorations under their eaves, the motifs varying from "lions playing with a silk ball," "stars of happiness, wealth and longevity," "lyre, chess, calligraphy and paintings," to "a unicorn bringing babies to the womb." The wooden doors and windows are also carved with fine designs. In some residences, there are murals on the walls. Wealthy families even used carved stone plates as skirting. The outer gate facing the street is characteristically elaborate.

- A residence in Pingyao.

The major rooms of some residences were shaped like the cave dwellings on mountain slopes, typical of the Loess Plateau. Very rich households had a fengshui tower or a screen wall built on the roof of the main house. The cave-shaped major room sits deep in the courtyard, which looks narrow and closed with high and wide-eaved rooms on the four sides. Such a design reflects a traditional idea that "all benefits shall be kept inside the house."

In these residences live a hospitable people. Everywhere you can spot a distinctive building. Some of them are protected as cultural sites, like the former residence of Lei Lutai. If you are seen tentatively poking your head inside, the hosts will invite you in with a smile, and, knowing you are admiring the houses, will show you around their home.

Like wine which becomes more mellow with age, the ancient city evokes people's nostalgia, with its deep and long lanes, ancient residences and old people sitting by the streets chatting. The relaxed life here reminds one of Lao Zi's words: "Let people enjoy whatever they eat and wear, follow their customary ways and take delight in their dwellings." It is this easy and poetic lifestyle that has made the city an Arcadia.

- Superb Religious Arts

Among the many ancient Buddhist and Taoist temples that lay scattered around Pingyao like bright pearls, the most outstanding is Shuanglin Temple, reputed as "a treasure house of Eastern painted sculptures," and now under protection of the State. Established in the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty over 1,400 years ago, the temple with ten halls covers an area of over 7,000 square meters. The Mahavira Hall houses one hundred color murals from the Yuan Dynasty, and over 2,000 painted sculptures of Vajra, the Goddess of Mercy, and arhats that date from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, among which 1,566 are still intact. Elegant and lifelike with different facial expressions and poses, these sculptures are real gems in the art of painted sculpture.

- The Thousand-arm Guanyin at Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao.

Although the images are all deities from Buddhist scriptures, it seems that the artisans had ignored this and fashioned their images after real-life generals, warriors, women and monks. The most typical is the sculpture of Mahaisvara in the Thousand-Buddha Hall on the east side, which is more like a beautiful young woman than a goddess, with its slim body, smooth skin, charming smile and thin clothes that seem to be aflutter with the wind. The sculpture of Skanda on its left, looking both gentle and valorous, is a rare masterpiece among painted sculptures from the Ming Dynasty, and is regarded as the best sculpture of Skanda ever found in China. On the walls are carved over 400 images of bodhisattvas, all seeming to be moving on colorful clouds, their clothes aflutter. The sculpture of Thousand- armed Avalokitesvara in the Bodhisattva Hall has tender features and the gentle and sedate expression of a young wife, with its thousand slender arms and hands stretching in a thousand directions and forming a thousand shapes.

The 18 stout and exuberant arhats flanking the sculpture of the Goddess of Mercy in the Arhat Hall are all full-sized and lifelike. It seems that the artisans favored arhats most, who are deities at the lowest level, and poured greater enthusiasm into modeling them. The arhats were given so many human features that they even obtained vernacular Chinese names meaning "dragon-tamer," "tiger-tamer," "talkative fellow," "guest entertainer," "long-eyebrowed," "preacher," "drunkard," and "sick arhat," while their original names became lost and forgotten.

About 12 kilometers northeast to the city proper of Pingyao sits a Tang-dynasty- style temple -- Zhenguo Temple, whose Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas was built in AD 963 during the Five Dynasties. As one of the three oldest timber-structured buildings in China, the hall represents Chinese architects' and artisans' high levels of skill in this field. The painted sculptures in the hall, though made during the Five Dynasties, are reminiscent of Tang-dynasty arts. The millennium-old Chinese scholartree and cypress in front of the hall remind viewers of China's enduring cultural history. There is also the Confucian Temple in the south part of the city known for its majestic Hall of Great Achievement, and the Qingxu Taoist Temple known for its collections of wooden, stone, iron, bronze, ceramic and terracotta statues. These temples stand as proof to visitors of the mature and distinctive Chinese art of sculpture, and tell later generations about the richness of the all- embracing ancient Chinese culture and civilization.

Like other ancient cities, Pingyao has suffered the ravages of nature and men. Now, as a World Heritage site, Pingyao will receive protection and funds from UNESCO, and should never be a target of military attacks during wartime. Today Pingyao, one of the few surviving ancient cities, is poised for a brighter future.