In the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasties, Ping Yao city was one of the commercial centers of the state. It started the first draft bank (deal in drafts, or bills of exchange, payable in towns and cities) and set 45 branches in 17 provinces of the country. Their business scope went as far as New York, San Francisco of American. Those businessmen who got rich by draft banks competed for building mansions and shops here, so that the city had been once prosperous and had a name of Small-Beijing. The main view-spots of Ping Yao are as following:

Ancient Walls: The enclosing wall of the City is 6157.7 meters in circumference and 6-7 meters high, on which, there are 72 watchtowers. Outside the wall, there are moats around, 3 meters both in wide and in deep and 6 suspension bridges in front of each gate of the city.

Ancient City-Tower: The three-storey-tower sites in the south street of Ping Yao. It is 18.5 meters high, wooden structure and the Qing-construction-style. You will have a bird-eye view of the City if you stand on it.

Rishengchang Draft Bank: It sites the west street where there were a great number of draft banks gathered. Rishengchang, with a history of 100 years, was the biggest draft bank at that time and had been famous for "Hui Tong Tian Xia" (Business Connecting The Whole World).

Dachengdian Temple: Located in the south east of Ping Yao, it is the only Confucian Temple built in the Song Dynasty and renovated in 1163BC. It has a history of over 800 years.

Ancient Residences For Common People: Most of those residences in Ping Yao with the traditional Chinese construction style were built in the Qing Dynasty and most of them are Siheyuan (a compound with houses around a square courtyard). Because it is arid climate in Shan Xi and they hadn't been destroyed by wars, 400 residences of the city have almost kept in good condition. It is rare in the world that the residences have so long history and have been preserved so completely.

Apart from the spots above, you may visit some others in the city, for example, the Qingxuguan Compound, Shuanglinsi Temple, Zhenguosi Temple and so on, all of those spots have a history of over hundreds years.

The climate: Four seasons here are clearly distinguishable. In January, it is very cold, the temperature is usually 7-8C, the lowest is 33C below zero. In July, it is very hot, usually 25-30C, the highest is 39C.

Communication routes: If you want to visit here, you can take the trains: Taiyuan-Chengdu, Taiyuan-Baoji, Taiyuan-Yuncheng, Taiyuan-Fenglingdu and get off at the stop Ping Yao and you also can take the coaches of Taiyuan-Ping Yao directly.

Qiao's Compound: Qiao's Compound, a typical landlord manor of the northern part of China in the period of feudal society is 60-km away Taiyuan, 20-km away from Ping Yao. It covers an area of 8724.8 sq. km. It was begun to build in the reign of the Qian Long Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The compound with19 courtyards, 313 houses, high walls enclosed was laid out in the shape of the Chinese character "ϲϲ"(double happiness) and is quite a traditional Chinese-construction-style. On their house roofs, there are 140 chimneys in different shape. Inner part of the compound, numerous arched doors, decorated eaves, elegant status made of wood or stone are in sight occasionally. They are all regarded as the building-arts in high level. The original name of the compound is "Zhai Zhong Tang" which indicates the philosophy thought of Qiao's ancestor: "behavior with golden mean".

The former owner of the residences was Qiao Zhi Yong whose grandfather was a famous wealthy, but he was very poor as his childhood. At his teenage, he went to Baotou (a city in Inner Mongolia Province) to try his luck. After experiencing countless hardship, he made himself be rich several years later. He had had many kinds of business in Baotou, including running banks, pawnshops, teahouses, grain shops and so on. The shop named Fushengtang was the biggest in the Baotou at that time. So, the word was much of mouth: "Baotou city was after the Fushengtang". As the result of this, members of Qiao's family erected the Qiao's Compound.

When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, Empress Dowager Cixi escaped from Beijing by way of here to Xian. Qiao's family not only did their best to treat her, but also offered her 100 thousands liang silver. In order to show her appreciate to this, Cixi issued an imperial edict to send Qiao's family a horizontal inscribed board with the word ¸£ÖÖÀÅ»· (plant the happiness here). Now it is still hung above the front gate of Qiao's compound. In 1939, Japanese troops invade in China, 60 members of Qiao's family left the residence for taking refuge. From then on, Qiao's compound lost what was once.

Zhangyimou, a Chinese famous film-director was seized by the Compound as he selected the site for the film Red Lanterns, it seemed to be the right place to happen that story. He had the film won the popularity of the world. After that, many films were taken here.

If you want to visit here, you can take the trains: Taiyuan-Yuncheng, Taiyuan-Baoji, Taiyuan-Chengdu, Taiyuan-Fenglingdu and get off at the stop Qi County. You also can take the coaches: Taiyuan-Ping Yao (108 km) and Taiyuan-Changjiang city (229 km).

Wang's Compound: Wang's Compound, 150 km away from Taiyuan is located in Lingshi County of Shanxi Provinces. It is the former site of Wang's family private residences, with an area of 4 times as large as Qiao's compound. It was built on a mountain, standing in the north and facing to the south. It is either a group of residences for common people of Shanxi or an artistic museum of Chinese buildings.

According to the legend, Wang's ancestors moved here in 1312. They started from farming as well as selling bean curd. Later on, they turned to business and officials (about 300 members of Wang's family were officials in different positions). After their property grown larger and larger, they began to build mansions one by one energetically, at last, the compound came to an area of 150 thousands sq. km in total. Wang's family began to go down the hill in the reign of Daoguang Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and persons of other family names started to occupy the place more and more by buying their real estate. In 1937, Luguoqiao Affair (Japanese troops made troubles at this place to stir up wars) broke up, Wangyinrang, the richest man of the family sold out all his shops and moved away. By then, the glorious success achieved by the family after experiencing all kinds of hardship in 600 years was gone. After the year of 1949, the compound was lived by common peasants. During 50 years, the residences not only haven't been destroyed, but also most of them were almost kept in original form.