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Published: March 6th 2007
Even the Gods get cold sometimes...
Three of the town's gods prepare for the Red Lantern celebrations under a blanket of snow Pay attention, as you will be tested when I get back home. First, there's the Xia, the first civilisation by the Yellow River. Then the Shang, who began developing the Chinese writing style. Following on were the Zhou, around the time when Confucius did his thing. Next were the Qin, about 2200 years ago, when the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall were built. A long period under the Han followed that, when bureaucracy began to flourish. The minor Wei, Jin and Sui dynasties leading in to the Tang, which is known now as China's golden era. Next were the Liao, then the Song, and then another Jin, who were toppled by the Mongol hordes under Genghis Khan. The Khans set up the Yuan Dynasty, which saw Marco Polo visit the country in the 1200s. Next was the Ming, where Chinese art and ceramics reached their zenith, and finally the Qing (1644), who were actually Manchurians, and who imposed Manchu culture on the Han Chinese (including the famed plaited ponytail, which is such a stereotypical image of the ancient Chinese male). The corrupt Qing were
The City Tower
Marking the centre of ancient Pingyao, this tower presides over the main street, home to antique stores, hotels and restaurants deposed (the 'Last Emperor' was the final Qing ruler) and the Republic of China was set up. Sun Yat-Sen's nation was weakened by both international pressure (the Japanese invasion being the most extreme example) and internal opponents (ie. the Chinese Communist Party). In 1949, they took control of Beijing and the People's Republic was born.
That was just a little entree into this post about my visit to Pingyao, a city of around 50,000 some 650 kms south-west of Beijing. If you want a taste of Imperial China, this is the spot to come. Originally established 2700 years ago, the town became a dynamic banking centre during Ming and Qing times. In the late-19th century, its economic influence waned, and it hit hard times. Unlike other Chinese cities, which have mostly destroyed their historic buildings (either in the quest to modernise, or during the worst excesses of communism) , Pingyao has somehow retained its medieval flavour. Its immaculately-preserved city walls are the only intact example remaining in the country, and 400 of its 4000 old-style houses are of museum quality. In recent years, it has discovered tourism in a big way, and since being UNESCO listed in 1997,
Pingyao kids
Two sisters -and their rather shy little brother - pose in the traditional Chinese way for a photo visitor numbers have shot up to 6 million per year. Most of the town's facades and significant buildings have been restored -and not, thankfully, over-restored, as often occurs here in China.
I arrived here after a hellish 22-hour journey from Luoyang, via the Shaolin temple, then the large cities of Zhengzhou and Taiyuan. The weather turned a few days ago, bringing in some rather fresh north-westerly winds from the Mongolian steppes, which delivered snow and subzero temperatures - today's maximum was a balmy 1 degree celsius, the low was minus 10. I was a shivering, sleep-deprived wreck on arrival, but the vibe of this wonderful town soon put me right. I found the famed Tianyuankui Hotel, which has been an inn since the late 1700s. Its internet connections and central-heating system belie the fact that it now caters for modern tourists, rather than weary Imperial officials, but it has kept many of its original features. The toasty dining-room is decked out with Ming-style furniture, including flashy timber tables known as 'Eight Immortals' (only because they seat eight people, but I still love the name). There are a bunch of cute little courtyards, and red lanterns hang everywhere. In fact,
The snow begins...
The first flakes of snow fall on the City Tower and a couple of Pingyao's red lanterns they bedeck the entire town. Pingyao is famous for its Red Lantern festival, which is actually taking place now. As far as I can gather, the festival involves hanging up lanterns and letting off as many ear-splitting fire-crackers as possible. My wanderings today have been punctuated every few moments by tremendous bangs, followed immediately after by the smell of fresh gunpowder, plus the wail of sensitive car alarms, set off by the explosions.
The festival marks the last day of Chinese New Year, and I have actually just come from the funfair that celebrates the fact. Now, I've been to some crappy fairs in my time, but this one takes the cake. The section with an entrance fee consisted of lots of red lanterns, plus various displays of mechanised dancing mannequins. My personal faves were the barbie dolls on a conveyor belt, and the revolving tiger-on-a-hillside, which was decorated all over with heaps of fresh ginger roots. I had to have a go on the dodgems (no safety belts, naturally), and I had almost as much fun banging into the Chinese as they had banging into the laowai.
The old town is contained entirely within the city walls,
The city walls
A section of the town's intact walls, which stretch 6 kilometres, offering protection to the Ming-era buildings within and consists of four main streets, 12 smaller streets, and 72 back lanes. Pingyao is known as the 'Turtle City', as the streets are laid out like markings on a turtle's shell. The town boasts a plethora of museums, preserved homes, temples, hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. You buy a single ticket for 20 bucks, which covers every historic site in Pingyao. Every few steps, there is another gallery, museum, temple or house that draws you in for a look around. Mostly they are pretty much the same - two courtyards, surrounded by a variety of exhibition rooms. The main room in every museum seems to be devoted to a display of photographs of Communist Party heavies - Jiang Zemin, or President Hu - visiting that very museum, surrounded by Party apparatchiks, all dressed in their summery tourist attire. One place that stood out was the newspaper museum, which proudly displayed newspapers devoted to what it called the 'Great Cultural Revolution', along with a bust of the Great Chariman Mao himself.
The buildings all follow a similar pattern, based on feng shui: a southern and a northern courtyard, with rooms lining the east and west edges. East and north
Raise the red lantern!
Some of the decorations for Pingyao's Red Lantern Festival, marking the end of Chinese New Year celebrations trump west and south, so maids lived in the south-eastern rooms, menservants in the southwest, sons in the north-east, and son's wives in the north-west. The man of the house had the northernmost building, which was also raised, as high rooms are superior to low ones.
The antique shops here are pretty cool - lots of Mao-era memorabilia, including original Little Red Books, porcelain and brass busts of Mao, as well as -get this - dog skins that have, quite bizarrely, been dyed to resemble wolf, tiger, bear and leopard furs. They still have the shape of a dog so godknows who is supposed to think they're genuine tiger skins.
The internet filters were alive and operational in Pingyao, and this travelblog site was one of the victims - thus the absence of a post for a while. Wikipedia is another site that is off-limits in China - strange, but there you go.
Just a bit of a postscript - as I was walking the streets earlier, I encountered a procession, which I presumed was part of the Red Lantern Festival. I ran up and down the length of it, taking happy snaps of the marchers, the
South Gate
One of the six entrances into the old town, the morning after some -10 temperatures and a dumping of snow musicians, and the people carting along a huge, covered litter. I waved and smiled and said hello. It was only after five minutes of this that I saw the wailing women, and realised that the litter was actually a hearse. I was skipping through, and taking photos of, a grieving funeral cortege...
Chinglish: a park with a sign saying, 'No commercial bodybuilding'. In a museum: 'Protect the institutions of electric power and strengthen the realization of self-protection'. Makes complete sense to me...
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Bernie
non-member comment
Cold enough for brass ming?
Hey Tom, glad that you've at least been able to find some genuine little red books. Great photos, and fascinating that a medieval city can look so similar but so different to the European equivalent. You're still the history teacher. Has it been cold enough to clad yourself in dog skin? Now there's a picture I'm looking forward to! Happy trails mate.