On a green carpet through time

A visit to Shanxi province takes you back through Chinese dynasties, and you will lap up the exquisite scenery along the way. Liu Zhihua, Paige Sheffield and Sun Ruisheng report in Shanxi.

One of the first things Chinese are apt to think of when talk turns to Shanxi is coal. That's because the province is full of the stuff, and for many a year its economic prosperity has been intricately intertwined with what comes out of the ground.

However, anyone thinking about visiting Shanxi should quickly disabuse themselves of the idea that what awaits them is kilometer after kilometer of bleak coal fields.

Instead prepare yourself for an adventure of discovery that will take you back to various Chinese dynasties even as you lap up the scenery - much of it cloaked not in black but sumptuous green. For those traveling from Beijing the added beauty of all this is that it is a mere three and a half hours away by high-speed train.

The province's name literally translates as west of the mountains, reflecting its proximity to the Taihang Mountains. To the province's east lies Hebei, to its south Henan, to its west Shaanxi and to its north the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The province has a population of 36 million living within its 156,000 square kilometers, whose diversity takes in its sprawling natural beauty and rich cultural heritage as well as its modernity and industrial firepower, epitomized by the capital, Taiyuan. This city has a special place in Chinese history, having been an important region in northern China during many dynasties.

For those looking for a touch of the old, one place to go is the ancient town of Pingyao, 80 km to the south, which was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1997.

With Langzhong in Sichuan, Lijiang in Yunnan and Huizhou in Anhui province, Pingyao is one of China's four well-preserved ancient cities. It was built during the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC).

Mercifully, Pingyao has escaped the commercialization that has blighted other ancient Chinese cities, and it is impossible to miss the history that seems to manifest itself along every meter and from every pore of the 6.4-kilometer-long, 12-meter-high city wall built to protect the city, and from the gray bricks and tiles of the many buildings that have survived wars and natural disasters.

The city boasts more than 300 historical sites and 4,000 historical homes, and strict controls are enforced to ensure that everything is kept the way it was in the past.

In the city center you can see a complete government office in feudal China in which the county magistrate lived and dealt with government affairs. Well-preserved items in the complex, which covers more than 26,000 square meters, showcase the way officials used to live and set out the daily routine of a county magistrate.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Pingyao was to North China essentially what Wall Street is to the United States today, a gathering place for merchants from all over the country as well as a distribution center for their goods.

Helping to keep the wheels of commerce turning in those days in the city was the Rishengchang Exchange Shop, regarded as China's first bank to use drafts, or paper-based cash instead of metal currencies.

These days the Rishengchang shop is the Piaohao Museum, which has areas showing different functions such as a business hall, a VIP room, an accounts office and staff living quarters.