The ancient county of Pingyao: a treasury of cultural relics

It is rare to see a Chinese county with many cultural relic sites, but Pingyao county of North China's Shanxi province is an exception.

The world cultural heritage area has 19 national and 101 provincial and county level key cultural relic protection sites, with many not open to the public. These cultural relics, ranging from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms AD (907-960) period to the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, are of high historical and artistic value.

"This is quite special and rare that so many historical cultural sites are found in a county area in China," said Chai Zejun, an expert in ancient architecture and cultural relics.

The precious Pingyao's Buddha Hall of Zhenguo Temple, which was established in 963, is one of the few wooden buildings built in the period of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907-960) still in existence.

The Hall of Great Achievements of the Confucius Temple, in Pingyao, built in 1163, is listed as one of the two oldest Confucius Temple's Hall of Achievements in China, the other being in Zhengding county, Hebei province.

Pingyao has a rich collection of rare painted sculptures of different historical periods. Its old buildings built during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), including temples, imperial courts, pavilions, bridges, towers, residential houses, and stores scattered in the ancient city of Pingyao, are plentiful.

The wall built in 1370 is also well preserved.

The ancient city of Pingyao was originally built during the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC). It has a history of over 2,700 years, and has been ranked among China's Famous Historic and Cultural Cities since 1986. It was listed as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 1997.