Pingyao Ancient City, located in Shanxi Province, is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2,700 years. With Langzhong, Lijiang, Yunnan and Shexian, it is also called "the four best-preserved ancient cities" and the second batch of national historical and cultural cities. It is also the only ancient county in China that successfully declared the world cultural heritage with the whole ancient city. Pingyao was once called "ancient pottery". In the early Ming Dynasty, the city wall was built to resist foreign interference from the south. In the third year of Hongwu (AD 1370), the old wall was rebuilt and expanded, and it was all brick. Since then, Jingdezhen, Zhengde, Jiajing, Qin Long and Wanli have been renovated for ten times, and the towers have been updated and enemy stations have been added. In the 43rd year of Kangxi (A.D. 1703), four towers were built because the emperor traveled westward through Pingyao, making the city more spectacular. The total circumference of Pingyao city wall is 6 163 meters, and the height of the wall is about 12 meters, which divides Pingyao county with an area of about 2.25 square kilometers into two different worlds. The streets, sidewalks and urban buildings within the city walls retain the shapes of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Outside the city wall, it is called the new city. This is a wonderful place where ancient and modern buildings are integrated, reflecting each other and making people memorable.

Pingyao Ancient City is located in the middle of Shaanxi Province in the north of China. It was built in the period of West Zhou Xuanwang (827-782 BC) and expanded in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1370), with a history of more than 2,700 years. So far, it has preserved the basic features of the county town in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (A.D.1368 ~191), and it is the most complete existing ancient city in the Han area of China.

Pingyao is located on the east bank of Fenhe River, at the southwest end of Taiyuan Basin, adjacent to Qixian County, another famous national historical and cultural city. Tongpu Railway and Dayun Expressway run through the county. The economy is dominated by agriculture, mainly producing grain, cotton, beef and lacquerware. Among them, beef is quite famous, and there are folk lyrics of "Pingyao Beef Taikoo Cake".

Pingyao was once the financial center of China in the late Qing Dynasty, with the most complete ancient county structure in China.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, it belonged to the State of Jin, and in the Warring States Period, it belonged to the State of Zhao. Tao Ping County, located in Zhongdu County in Qin and Han Dynasties, is the capital of clan acting as king. The Northern Wei Dynasty was renamed Pingyao County. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 20 banks headquartered in Pingyao, accounting for more than half of the country, also known as "China's ancient Wall Street". The largest of these is Rishengchang, the first bank in China, which was founded in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty and is known as "Huitong World".

Pingyao basically retained the embryonic form of the county seat in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was called the "turtle" city. The street pattern is in the shape of "earth", and the architectural layout follows the direction of gossip, which embodies the urban planning concept and shape distribution in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are more than 300 sites and ancient buildings inside and outside the city, and nearly 4,000 well-preserved Ming and Qing dwellings. The shops on the street all reflect the original appearance of history, which can be called a living sample for studying ancient cities in China.

Pingyao City Wall was built in the third year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, with 6 city gates, 4 watchtowers and 72 watchtowers. Among them, the south gate wall collapsed in 2004, and most of the rest are still intact. It is one of the existing large-scale and well-preserved ancient city walls in China, and it is also the core component of Pingyao Ancient City, a world heritage. In addition, Zhenguo Temple, Shuanglin Temple and Pingyao Confucian Temple are also included in the scope of world heritage protection.

Pingyao Ancient City is a well-preserved historical city and the prototype of China Ancient City. It is the best preserved ancient county town in China, and it is also an outstanding model of Han cities in China in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the historical development of China, it shows people a complete picture of the extraordinary development of Pingyao ancient city in culture, society, economy and religion.