Showing posts with label Shanxi Province China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shanxi Province China. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Pingyao, Shanxi, China 平遥

During the Qing Dynasty Pingyao was the financial capital of China. The city was founded 2,700 years ago. The inner city's layout hasn't changed since the Ming (1368-1644 AD) and Qing (1644-1917 AD) Dynasties.
We stayed at an old hotel that was supposedly 500 years old. It had traditional Kang beds, which were huge rectangular shape beds surrounded by brick and traditionally filled with dirt, with wooden posts placed over the dirt followed by hard mattresses. Our bed was large but wasn't made out of wood or dirt but the mattress was hard. Traditionally the kang bed fit 7 people.  Because the beds were filled with dirt they kept the people warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
The city had 22 different houses or sites to visit. We saw an old bank that had under ground vaults, a museum of furniture, Buddhist temples, residences, vinegar shops, the old city wall. I noticed that many of the buildings were bright orange and green. This contrasted greatly with the red and black I am used to in Xi'an.
The food in Pingyao is not as spicy as Xi'an. They had a lot of beef dishes, breaded and fried mushrooms, and beef skewers. I took a video of a meat skewer BBQ that is unlike any I have ever seen.
The city had fun antique shops that sold old clocks, lanterns, animal skins, and other souvenirs.


Black Vinegar. This stuff is strong




City Wall


Monday, June 13, 2016

Wang Family Compound 王家大院.

The Wang Family compound was built by the Wang family between 1762-1811. The Wang family was one of four official families of the Qing Dynasty. The Wang family were government officials and amassed their fortune through government deals.
The compound has 231 courtyards, 2,078 houses and the total yardage is 179,399.  The entire compound is surrounded by high walls.  The buildings were close together, and for the first time I understood why kung fu movies portray people jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
The compound had amazing architecture and displayed traditional art. The building displayed the Wang family tree, which had a whopping 89 generations documented.



This is what 89 generations of 
family names looks like. I couldn't
get a great picture.

Outer wall.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Mianshan Mountain 绵山

The highlight of our weekend trip was a trip to Mianshan Mountain. The mountain is well known for it's beauty,  for the Buddhist and Daoist temples and bridges built into the sheer cliffs and as the birthplace of the Qingming Festival 

Mr. Kungfuyankee climbed up the cliff to walk on the wooden steps.



Monkey bridge and Daoist Temple


Buddhist temple built into the cliffs


People put locks on chains to bring wealth and 
lovers put locks on chains together to signify
their love is never broken.
.