Zhoucun Ancient Commercial City

Hailed as the first village under heaven, Zhoucun's grand street was among the busiest inland trading hubs of North China from the Ming to the Republic, dealing in silk, silver and cloth.

Meng Luochuan, a descendant of Mencius, founded the century-old Ruifuxiang brand here, an early Chinese firm known for pioneering chain-style business.

Built in the Ming dynasty as an arcade-style gateway, this pavilion sets a double-eaved hall above a vaulted arch, where passing merchants prayed for wealth and safe travels.

Zhoucun's sesame flatbread, thin as a poplar leaf and crisp and sweet, is a national intangible heritage craft presented at the old branch of the Shanxi merchant bank Dadetong.

Early-Qing Zhoucun accounts say that Li Huaxi assumed the market tax to protect the fair, making the “Today No Tax” stele part of the town's commercial memory.

Ruifuxiang grew from the Meng family's Shandong commercial base; in 1893 it opened a Beijing branch, while Zhoucun preserves its early commercial traces.