Qikou is a small town about a 6 hour bus ride from Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province. For more than two centuries, when transportation in the area was still undeveloped, the Yellow River constituted the main transportation route for commodities between Northwest and North China. Qikou served as a vital trading point marking the eastern terminus for river-bound freight. During the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.), Qikou was the commercial center and commodity transfer harbor, where dozens, sometimes hundreds of boats, berthed every day. Cereals, oils, salt, furs, medicines and many other products came to Qikou on water routes from Northwest China, before being transported to other parts of the country by horse and camel. Meanwhile, silk, tea, cigarettes and liquor were transported from central China to the northwest (here it
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