Relativly speaking that is! We took a regular day train 6 hours north west from X'ian to Pingyao. The small town was on a major trade route for north eastern China, and is the home of China's first bank. The town fell into obscurity at the end of the 19th Century, with the arrival of European banks and the shif to a more industrilized economy. Lucky for Pingyao!
Consequently none of the old buildings nor the ancient wall were ever torn down. The wall with the city inside is intact, all of the Ming dynasty buildings, little allyways and of course the requsite passle of temples.
We stayed at this beautiful hotel. All of the rooms were decorated in Ming dynasty style with a large (about 8x10 feet) elevated bed, and cool furniture that you could bring into the bed with you. All that plus A/C and hot water. The movie "Raise the Red Lantern" was filmed down the road! We loved waking aroudn the streets, there were plenty of bikes and these golf cart things that were popular to cart people around in. (Just like they had in the Ming dynasty i am sure!)
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