Discover The Ancient City Walls in Pingyao
Being a notable historic part of Pingyao Ancient City, the ancient wall surrounding the city is proudly praised as one of the "Three Treasures" of the county. First built in the Xizhou Dynasty, the wall has been existed for about 2,700 years and became one of the oldest city walls all over China. The wall's construction consists of brick and stone exteriors with rammed earth inside. Like almost other Chinese city walls, it was an indispensable part of Pingyao's military defensive system preventing invasions from outside enemies with a series of military fortifications including gates, watch-towers, battlements,etc. The walls stand 10 meters in height, approx 6 kilometers in length with 3.5 meter in width on the tops, which offer a great bird's eye view to look out onto the ancient city and the area surrounding the wall itself. From here, the rectangular wall resembles a tortoise and it is also Pingyao Ancient City's byname. Through many renovations, the walls still preserve an exquisite structure with an intensive style of design and construction from the earlier time as well as showcases the wisdom of ancient Chinese laborers. The ancient city wall is not too big so that visitors can opt to have a leisure stroll or take a rickshaw ride exploring the wall.
