Píngyáo - Relaxing in the Walled City

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Although Píngyáo is not big for Chinese standards (only around 500 000 inhabitants), it is well known among tourists for its ancient walled city. Although not everything dates back to 1370 (when the wall was originally created), most of it has – unlike the walled city in Dàtóng – not been just reconstructed recently. Around 30 000 people still live in this ancient part of Píngyáo and walking through the alleyways beside the touristy main roads one can watch the locals doing their daily business, hanging laundry in their courtyards and driving on their bicycles.

Having been already in Lìjiāng some years ago – famous for its “old” town, where barely any original building exists anymore and which displays myriads of flashing neon signs at night – Píngyáo was a pleasant surprise to me. Although some modern elements may disturb the image of an historic place and the main roads for the tourists have a lot of shops trying to sell the same kitsch, it largely managed to keep its charm intact.

Even inbetween the overpriced restaurants and shops you can find some nice places. For example when I planned to write a bit for this blog I found a nice cafe to sit down and wrote my first article. But before I could start the second one, I had already started a conversation with a Chinese guy who had just entered the cafe and spoke English fluently. As it turned out he had been living in Germany for more than two years before he went back to China. Being very knowledgable he could tell me some new details about Píngyáo and China and we talked for several hours.

Still one should probably avoid Píngyáo during the Golden Week and similar events. Even though I was for most of the time the only guest in my hostel, the city itself was already packed – but not too crowded – with tourists. In contrast to most other touristic places in China I have been to there were a lot of foreigners among them, especially from France.

All in all, I spent some relaxing days in Píngyáo. Getting outside the walled city in the morning to get a delicious, vegetable filled pancake in the morning, strolling through the less visited alleyways later on and watching the bustling crowds in the evening was a nice break from the a bit rushed travelling in the last few days.

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