Pingyao Ancient City

Encircling Pingyao, one of China's best-preserved Ming brick-and-stone walls bristles with barbicans, watchtowers and battlements laid out in a turtle-shaped plan.

Founded by Shanxi merchant Lei Lutai, Rishengchang was China's first firm dedicated to remittances and led the nation's finance for more than a century.

Laid out with strict order, Pingyao's yamen is among the largest and most complete county-level government compounds surviving from imperial China.

First built under Emperor Gaozong of the Tang, this grand Taoist temple features a Yuan hanging-beam structure in its Dragon and Tiger Hall and fine murals.

A local gazetteer tradition places Yin Jifu's troops at ancient Pingyao after the Xianyun campaign and credits them with expanding the wall.

In 1823 the Pingyao Xiyucheng pigment firm was converted into Rishengchang, an important early milestone in China's draft-bank finance.

Old Towns and Villages on the World Heritage List

The Ancient City of Pingyao and the Old Town of Lijiang were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997, followed by Xidi and Hongcun in 2000, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in 2007 and Fujian Tulou in 2008.

In 1997, Ping Yao was inscribed for its exceptionally preserved Ming–Qing urban fabric and its social, economic, and religious record.