Ming and Qing Custom Paintings--Pingyao Ancient City

Ming and Qing Custom Paintings--Pingyao Ancient City

Pingyao Ancient City, the best-preserved ancient county in China, is an outstanding example of a Chinese Han city in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It presents a complete picture of extraordinary cultural, social, economic and religious development in the development of Chinese history. The ancient city of Pingyao is located in the central part of Shanxi Province.?

Pingyao, formerly known as Gutao, was founded in the Western Zhou Dynasty and is said to have been built by Yin Jifu, a general of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, a city wall was built to protect the city from foreign invasion. In the third year of Hongwu (1370), it was rebuilt and expanded on the basis of the old wall. Later, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli carried out ten supplementary repairs, renewed the citadel and added the enemy viewing platform.

Because the emperor passed through Pingyao on his western tour, four large city towers were specially built to make the city even more spectacular. The ancient city has a history of more than 2,700 years since it was built. The ancient city of Pingyao has gone through vicissitudes and changes, becoming the most complete Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese ancient county town existing in China. It still retains the basic style of the county town of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and can be called the most complete surviving ancient city in the Han region of China.?

A bird's eye view of the ancient city of Pingyao is even more breathtaking. This flat, square city wall, shaped like a tortoise, has six gates, one in the north and one in the south, and two in the east and two in the west. The south gate of the city is the "turtle's head", and the two wells outside the gate symbolize the turtle's eyes. The north gate is the "turtle's tail", which is the lowest point in the city, from which all the stagnant water in the city will flow out. There are four urns to the east and west of the city, all opposite each other.

The gates of the urns at the Upper West Gate, Lower West Gate, and Upper East Gate are all open to the south, looking like the claws of a tortoise reaching forward, but the outer gate of the urns at the Lower East Gate leads straight to the east. It is said that when the city was built, for fear that the tortoise would crawl away, the left leg was straightened and tied to the foot platform 10,000 meters away. This seemingly sublime legend reflects the great worship of the tortoise by the ancients, and also reflects the desire of the ancients for good luck.

Turtle City is meant to be long-lived and rock-solid. There are also 3,000 pits and 72 enemy towers on the city wall, which are said to symbolize Confucius' 3,000 disciples and 72 sages. After more than 600 years of vicissitudes, the splendor of the city wall remains the same.

There are 4,000 ancient and modern residences in the ancient city, of which more than 400 typically embody the architectural style and characteristic residences of ancient and modern residences in northern China. Ancient Pingyao is a piece of brocade. It has preserved all its ancient architectural features, and it presents to the people a complete picture of extraordinary cultural, social, economic and religious...?

In addition, Pingyao was once one of the major birthplaces of Jin merchants in the country. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jin merchants gradually rose to prominence and developed into an important commercial group in China. In the fourth year of the Qing Dynasty, the first ticket company, Rishengchang, was established on Pingyao's West Street. Currently, Rishengchang is still located on the West Street of Pingyao City, and its building reflects the traditional features of Jinzhong architecture in Shanxi Province, and is a perfect unification of Jinzhong's commercial store style and the use of space for operating a ticket office.

Covering an area of 1,400 square meters,*** there are 21 buildings with a total area of 1,240 square meters. The architectural space adopts the three-entry hall-style architectural form. The street pavement, hall and living room are located on the north-south central axis. The garden and compartments are symmetrically arranged along the central axis. The compartments in the first half of the forecourt are the cabinet rooms for external business, and their interiors are concealed to become vaulted. The compartments in the back half of the courtyard are the mail room and account room for internal management. In addition to the street frontage, the entire complex of the east, west and south sides are built with tall brick walls.