I love me a Chinese wall! So much so, in fact, that I wrote about the greatest walls in the Middle Kingdom for Lonely Planet – there are more around the country than just the one near Beijing, you know! There’s something just so epic about an ancient wall, the idea of a city or […]
Shanxi
Visiting Pingyao – China’s best-preserved walled town

On a recent trip to from Xi’an to Beijing, I took the opportunity to stop off at Pingyao 平遥, one of China’s best-preserved Ming and Qing dynasty-era walled towns. Although now a major tourist destination (and a UNESCO World Heritage site) Pingyao still retains a run-down charm in places, with grey brick courtyard buildings hiding comfy kang […]