Pingyao: Frozen in Time Ancient City Private Day Tour

Walk the same stones as Qing Dynasty bankers at Ming-Qing Street, birthplace of China's first draft banking system—Rishengchang Exchange—where silver once flowed like water through 57 branches across the empire. Scale the Intact City Wall, a UNESCO fortress untouched by modernity, its 72 watchtowers mirroring Confucius's 72 disciples. Discover courtyard compounds hiding behind carved wooden screens, where the jinshang merchant class perfected the hui piao—ancient promissory notes that revolutionized Asian commerce centuries before Western banks. Dusk brings shadow puppet theater, leather silhouettes dancing to erhu strings, and Shanxi aged vinegar—fermented 3,000 days in traditional clay jars.