Pingyao’s most notable feature is its centuries-old city wall, which stands ten meters high, a fortress of sloping brick—brown in some lights, gray in others—topped with crenellations through which cannons could be shot if the city needed to defend itself. The six-kilometer-long wall would form a square, if not for its squiggly southern edge. Six … Continue reading A Weekend in Pingyao, Part II: A Journey of Ten Thousand Steps
A Weekend in Pingyao, Part I: A Journey of a Thousand Miles
It seemed like half the people on my flight from Shanghai to Taiyuan were coughing—short, dry testimonies to the coal city’s infamy as one of the most polluted places in China. Taiyuan deserves that reputation, I saw as I rode a bus from the airport to the train station: a thick yellow haze hung in … Continue reading A Weekend in Pingyao, Part I: A Journey of a Thousand Miles
