For tourists who like the history and culture of China, every ancient city and historic site in China has become their yearning place, and I happen to be one of them. When I visited all the ancient cities in China, I found that Pingyao ancient city in Shanxi Province was my favorite. It was a vast and rugged place.
As all the partners who have known our history know, Pingyao ancient city is the birthplace of Shanxi merchant culture, and a prosperous city was born here. Pingyao ancient city has a history of more than 2,800 years, and it is the most well-preserved city in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are more than 10,000 houses and many deep houses in the ancient city. It took two days to visit before and after.
The loess high walls and the red lanterns set each other off. There are no straw houses and adobe houses in the ancient city, only tile houses or bungalows with wooden doors, windows, blue bricks and gray tiles. The 84 streets and lanes in the ancient city, large and small, are all paved with square blue bricks, which is enough to show the prosperity and prosperity of Pingyao ancient city.
Let me directly feel the prosperity of the ancient city, not only the livelihood projects completed hundreds of years ago, but the gold and silver jewelry hidden in the underground vault of the bank, which is unimaginable and amazing!
Among the underground vaults of banks in the ancient city, the most striking one is Xie Tongqing's underground vault, which is really a mountain of gold and silver with an estimated value of 30 billion yuan. How rich is the underground vault of this ancient Pingyao city? For example, Jinzhong City, where Pingyao Ancient City is located, had a GDP of 71700 million yuan in the first half of 2002/kloc-0.
It may be "greed", and I have a strong interest in Xie Tongqing's money house that has been exposed. I can't wait to have a look.
Xie Tongqing Qianzhuang is one of the top ten banks in Pingyao Ancient City. It is located in the south street of Pingyao ancient city. Since its opening 58 years ago, it has set up as many as 33 branches of Xie Tongqing draft bank all over the country, which has been called "the unique bank in China draft bank industry".
Walking into Xie Tongqing's Bankhouse, we can see the grandeur and luxury of Qijin Courtyard, and we can intuitively feel its extraordinary temperament and strength from its architectural style.
Of course, what attracts me most is the underground vault of Xie Tongqing Bank, which is relatively remote and needs to bypass an inconspicuous wall to see its entrance. After entering the entrance of the underground vault, you need to go through several circuitous and narrow steps to enter, which shows that the bank's safety awareness was very strict at that time.
When I officially entered the underground vault, I found that the area here is very large, and the room where gold and silver are stored is full of real gold and silver, a veritable Jinshan Yinshan, which is very spectacular! In the center of the main hall stands a dragon column, which is known as the "anchor needle". The tour guide said that the place where this dragon column is located is the center of the whole Pingyao ancient city, which may have some special significance.
Here is a cold knowledge for everyone. Do you know the origin of the word "cash withdrawal" now? When there are guests in the store who need to exchange silver coins, they use bamboo baskets to hang silver coins into the store through the shaft with ropes. This process is called "cash withdrawal" and is still in use today.
To see if it was shocked by the wealth of Pingyao ancient city, we should know that Xie Tongqing Bank was only one of the top ten banks in Pingyao at that time, along with nine banks and domestic vendors. I am really eye-opening here, and I deeply admire Shanxi merchants and their culture.