World Cultural Heritage: The Ancient City of Ping Yao (4)

Cultural heritage value:

The Ancient City of Ping Yao is a well-preserved historic city and a model of other ancient Chinese cities. It covers a total area of nearly 2.3 square kilometers and a total population of 42,000 people still lives here because the city has basically maintained its original historical style during the period of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 to 1911).

The Ancient City of Ping Yao was established during the reign of Xuanwang in the West Zhou Dynasty (827 BC to 782 BC) and has a history of more than 2,700 years. Ping Yao has always been a “seat of county government” since ancient China implemented the “system of prefectures and counties” in 211 BC. It is the most basic level of a first class city. The existing ancient city walls are still in its original state when the city was expanded during the reign of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370). The existing ancient buildings include six temple complexes, and the Yamen and Shilou which are a kind of building in ancient markets, and they are all original buildings in the city. There are more than 100 streets and alleys with their original historical states, as well as commercial shops along the streets that were constructed between the 17th century and 19th century. In addition, more than 400 traditional houses out of the total 3,797 traditional houses have a high conservation value because of the unique local style.

Unique and rich cultural relics: The Ancient City of Ping Yao has a history of more than 2,700 years. It has preserved many cultural relics over a long time span during the process of long-term development, and is considered as the "county of cultural relics" in Shanxi Province and also the "treasure house of ancient Chinese architecture." The large number of cultural relics in the ancient city represents the architectural forms, construction methods, and timber standards of ancient Chinese cities in different historical periods, and also reflects the artistic progress and aesthetic achievements of different ethnic groups and different regions in ancient China.