The wall

Pingyao

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April 20th 2007
This was our stopover between Xi'an and Beijing, a small town remarkable for its preservation, particularly an intact wall. We arrived on the sleeper well after dark and caught an auto rickshaw into town. Most of the lights had been shut down and it was eerie traveling down narrow alleyways and through the massive gates as they loomed out of the darkness. We spent the first night at the Lonely Pl ... read more

Asia » China » Shanxi » Pingyao

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more