Ping Yao is a beautiful and well-preserved old city, located in China’s Shanxi province. It was an important centre of trade, commerce, and political power for centuries, mainly during the Qing and Ming dynasties, and much of the old historic core of the city is still intact and in good condition.

There are lots of well-preserved wooden buildings, brightly coloured and with exquisite Chinese characters decorating the facades, hidden laneways and courtyards to discover, beautiful temples, a few drum towers poking up into the skyline, and of course the imposing and well-preserved city walls surrounding the historic core. Most buildings on the main streets are also festooned with red lanterns that light up in the evenings, making for quite a magical atmosphere (though of course a lot of these beautiful buildings are packed with junk shops and karaoke bars). The whole place is reminiscent of Hoi An, though on a larger scale.

Unfortunately for us, we’d inadvertently booked to stay in Ping Yao on a Saturday during Chinese school holidays, so it was very crowded even by Chinese standards. Every street and courtyard was packed like a music festival or large sporting event, so getting around and enjoying the environment was always a challenge.

The highlight for us was the City God Temple, with gorgeous aqua and gold coloured roof tiles. Lots of beautiful decorations inside, hidden gardens and courtyards, plazas and trees. Confucius Temple was also very impressive, with some fantastic buildings on show. Both of these weren’t as popular with the domestic tourists, so they were (relatively speaking) quiet and peaceful.

The city walls were also great to wander around. Once you leave the wall sections around the main streets, you’re peering directly into people’s yards, and being surprised at the lack of modern facilities. Hard to believe that a large and wealthy tourist attraction is only a few hundred metres away!

The Rishencheng Draft Bank is usually listed as a highlight of Ping Yao, but neither of us found it that impressive. The old wooden buildings are nice, but they were typically packed with dusty objects and awkwardly posed mannequins.

We’d strongly recommend staying overnight inside the walls - it was very busy even at 10pm when we returned to the hotel, but at first light the next morning it was extremely quiet and peaceful, and perfect for photos. We stayed at Harmony Hotel, which had beautiful courtyards and lanterns, so it was like our own little quiet corner of the city.

Getting There

We arrived and departed via high-speed rail at Pingyaogucheng station, where local buses can take you directly to the city gate. Seemed like the buses lined up with the trains, as there were two buses waiting (and of course an army of taxi touts).