Asia Weekly

China Travel News

Banking on history

Like a black-clad vandal caught in the act of keying a vintage car, the silhouette cast by the Olympic spotlight showed a China hell-bent on leveling its cultural heritage and replacing it with soulless concrete monstrosities. But far away from the glamour of Beijing lies a town "almost perfectly preserved after 2,700 years," says Stan Sesser in The Wall Street Journal Asia. China's last surviving Ming dynasty wall looms "like a mirage" on the road from Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, before giving way to Pingyao, a town only just turning the corner after China's banking industry moved east over half a century ago. Yet the legacy of wealth remains, and "entrepreneurs have turned some of the most beautiful courtyard houses into hotels," seamlessly integrating amenities like wifi and aircon with the ancient architecture. A walk along the city streets is "akin to time travel," with the old banking houses now preserved by a number of museums. The barren expanse of land beyond the wall betrays how remote an outpost Pingyao really is, but the journey is worth it in the end, as a room at even the classiest hotel in town costs just $50 a night.

 

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