Pingyao Ancient City The Pingyao Ancient City is an ancient culture city having more than 2700 years of history, with city perimeter of 6162.68 m, a total area of 2.25 km2, it is the prototype of China's ancient county in the Ming and Qing Dynasties of the most complete preservation within the border of China, it is a large ancient architectural complex which consists of complete city walls, streets, stores, temples and dwellings, and a typical representative of the building system of counties in the Central China of Chinese Han Nationality. The Pingyao Ancient City has been a commercial port town of strategic importance in Northern China since the 16th century, reached its huge prosperity in the middle of the 19th century, and had become a control center of modern Chinese financial industry. The Pingyao Ancient City is of important historical value, artistic value and scientific value for the researches on the transition of China's ancient cities, and the development of urban architecture, human living forms and traditional culture. It is one of important officially protected monuments and sites. Zuo Quan (1905-1942), former name is Zuo Jiquan, chosen Shuren as his sobriquet. On Mar. 15, 1905, Zuo Quan was born in a poverty-stricken farm family of Liling County of Hunan Province. With the aid of friends and relatives, he went to county school during his youth. In 1924, he entered into Guangzhou Army Jiangwu School and joined the CPC in the same year, and went to Moscow Sun Yat-sen University in October; he studied further in Soviet Union Frunze Military Academy in 1927; he was served as education head of fine army military academy in the old revolutionary base area of western Fujian, and army commander of Red Twelfth Army, staff officer head of army general headquarters, army commander of Fifth Army. The quadrangle square memorial pavilion had been built from 1985-1987 on the martyrdom place of Zuo Quan of Shiziling Summit. The memorial pavilion faces to the south, and covers the area of 243.63 square meters. There are 8 green tablets in the quadrangles of interior column, and respectively carving mourning articles of Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng, Ye Jianying, etc. There is one four-meter square white marble memorial tower, hanging a horizontal inscribed board with “Memorial Pavilion for General Zuo Quan” written by Marshal Xu Xiagnqian.

The Conservation Management Guidelines for Traditional Courtyard Houses and Environment in the Ancient City of Pingyao has been recently published in both Chinese and English. The Ancient City of Pingyao, is an exceptionally well-preserved ancient city in China. The city was founded in 5th Century AD and the extant city dates from the 14th century. Covering an area of 225 hectares, the Ancient City of Pingyao is a complete building system including ancient walls, streets and lanes, shops, dwellings and temples. Its layout reflects perfectly the developments in architectural style and urban planning of the Chinese Han cities for more than five centuries, providing a complete picture of the cultural, social, economic and religious development in Chinese history. The guidelines were initiated by the Pingyao County Government and UNESCO, and supported by the China Cultural Heritage Foundation and Global Heritage Fund, and complied by the Tongi University. Through this joint effort – two conservation guidelines were created. The guideline; Conservation Management Guidelines for Traditional Courtyard Houses and Environment in the Ancient City of Pingyao, which is primarily written for government authorities, professional conservation teams, design and construction companies, outlines the existing legal framework and local regulations, historic building conservation standards, principles and process of conservation work, and the practical details of traditional building conservation. The other guidelines, Practical Conservation Guidelines for Traditional Courtyard Houses and Environment in the Ancient City of Pingyao, is primarily written for residents and provides them with a better understanding of the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of living in traditional courtyard residential houses. These two new conservation guidelines target traditional courtyard houses within the Ancient City of Pingyao that are not listed or currently protected. Their aim is to provide relevant stakeholders with a clearer and better defined approaches for conservation, restoration and maintenance of traditional courtyard houses, thereby maintaining the integrity and authenticity of the Ancient City of Pingyao World Heritage site, as well as improving the living condition of its residents. They also aim to: •Raise the awareness amongst Pingyao authorities and local residents about the importance of the historic city, and particularly the traditional courtyard houses, which are key to the significance of Pingyao. •Introduce procedures for applying for, carrying out and evaluating restoration and conservation work – for both the applicant (resident) and authorities. •Evaluate the qualifications of design and construction teams. •Provide technical support and guidance for the adaptive reuse of traditional courtyard houses through the use of traditional restoration techniques and modern skills where appropriate. •Promote appropriate adaptive reuse of traditional courtyard houses The conservation guidelines will seek to ensure that Pingyao does not become a theatre prop, but rather retain its distinctive characters. It is hoped that these guidelines will not only serve Pingyao, but can also be of benefit to similar projects in historic towns and cities in China and beyond.

Pingyao Ancient City is a World Heritage site about 100 kilometers away to a north Chinese provincial capital called Taiyuan. Whereas the rest China is embracing an intensive modernization in a fast pace, Pingyao tenaciously holds onto its past. When its gray city walls, watchtowers, and gate towers are bathed in the morning sun, whoever has the come close to it will be overwhelmed by its imposing glory and feel like stepping back in time. It is a place where past is still alive. Pingyao's old walled city is also called the Tortoise City. Enclosed in the 6163 meters long intact city walls is a perfectly preserved ancient town of Chinese Han nationality in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Historical buildings including Chinese courtyard mansions, temples, old shops and more than 3,000 old houses, which have unfolded a full picture of Chinese society in history. The name of the Tortoise City consists of two meanings. The first meaning comes from that the city resembles the outline of a tortoise. Its head lies at the south gate, its four feet at the east and west gates, and its tail at the north gate. The two wells just beyond southern gate are the eyes. A web of alleys links the main streets in such a way that even the layout of the town resembles the markings on a turtle shell. The south gate is special and looks like a tortoise's head from above. It was actually built for a key defensive function of the city, the biggest entrapment gate of all 6 city gates. Pingyao's city gates look like a normal city gate from outside. But if the sieging enemies believed what they saw and broke into the gate, they were trapped into a deadly killing zone. There comes the second meaning of the Tortoise City, impenetrable stronghold. The city wall system of Pingyao was believed like a tortoise's shell that perfectly protected the city. The fortifications of the Tortoise City are highly sophisticated. There are totally 72 watchtowers and 6 entrapment city gates with gate towers connected by the 12 meters high city walls. The walls are 8 to 12 meters thick at basement and average 5 meters thick at the top. There are platforms every 50m with 3,000 crenels on the outer wall. The whole city is surrounded by moats 3 meters deep and 3 to 10 meters wide, with 6 suspension bridges in front of the 6 city gates. The effectiveness of these military constructions have been proved by wars. Pingyao has won almost all battles against enemy sieges in the history, and survived as the best preserved ancient city in China.