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Tourist-friendly town
In the span of centuries, Pingyao has
gone from a financial center to a tourist
hub. A number of
siheyuans
(
courtyard
houses) have been converted to hotels.
Jing’s Residence (
16
East Street,
Pingyao, tel: +86 (354) 584 1000;
is a five-star
boutique with a luxury price tag, but
there are other inns (or
kezhans
as
they are known) to suit all pockets.
Pingyao Harmony Guesthouse (
165
South Street, Pingyao, tel: +86 354
568 4952;
,
for
example, is in an endearing 300-year-
old mansion with simple rooms that
have a shower and
kang
,
a traditional
“
bed-stove”, used to keep guests warm
during China’s harsh winters.
Originally heat was supplied by
burning wood in an oven under the
mattress slab, these days it comes from
electricity.
Harmony is run by the enthusiastic
Deng family, whose living room
doubles as the hotel’s lobby and café.
The kitchen turns out tasty local bites
including “rolling noodle” and yam in
sweet sauce. Pingyao beef, however, is
the town’s iconic dish — salt-cured for
a month or more before a long, slow
braise, the result is similar to corned
beef. Local tales ascribe the invention
of the recipe to a tight-fisted butcher
who was reluctant to throw away bad
ox-meat. Tian Yuan Kui (
73
South
Street, tel: +86 354 568 0069;
pytyk.com
)
serves the tender, succulent
PHOTOS
MARK PARREN TAYLOR
P E E K A R O U N D P I N G Y A O
Sample local dishes like
handmade dumplings, Pingyao
beef and cat ear noodles
