Ancient City of Pingyao - Part 3: Best Authentic Food

With rustic ingredients, generous use of aged vinegar and an amazing variety of pasta / noodles, the cuisine of Shanxi Province may sound almost Italian. The parallels are remarkable -- Shanxi's Aged Vinegar is as highly revered in the world of Chinese cuisine as Reggio Emilia's is regarded in Italian, and the noodles of Shanxi is well-known for its multitudes of hand-rolled shapes. Welcome to the land of inexpensive, wholesome, farm-inspired cuisine.

Pingyao possesses such a goldmine of excellent local food that even most domestic tourists haven't heard of. But first you need to venture outside the City Wall, through the Lower West Gate (northwestern gate) in the direction of the Train Station. Forget inferior and overpriced restaurants targeting the Lao Wai inside the old city -- head outside where the Pingyao locals wisely spend their money.


Food Review: ZHONG DU BIN GUAN (Pingyao)
Address: 1 Shun Cheng Rpad, Pingyao
Hours: 11:00-22:00
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: Zhongdu Binguan is the grey hotel in front of the Train Station, on the main road running north-south. It's on the right hand side of the road if you're coming out of the Train Station. Walk inside, ask the concierge and you'll be guided to the restaurant.


This was the most satisfying meal we've ever had anywhere in China in terms of Price to Quality Ratio. Not only was the quality of food excellent, but the whole ambience and amazing service were provided at such a cheap bargain bottom price. You simply won't find this quality at this price in any major city, let alone Beijing or Shanghai.

First I have to explain how I found this place -- I followed a discussion thread by local Pingyao foodies on Baidu.com's Tieba (in Chinese), and marked down three most recommended and accessible restaurants in Pingyao. Zhongdu was at the top of the list.

Zhongdu Binguan is actually a hotel, but its restaurant is regarded locally as one of the best. In fact when we first came for lunch, the entire restaurant was booked for a wedding banquet and we had to return for dinner another day. Good thing I wore a proper jacket for dinner, as we were seated in ...



A private room with only one table -- ours. With the chandelier above the table and classical music in the background, this could have been any top restaurant in Hong Kong. And the most astonishing thing was ... our server, a barely 20-year-old local girl, served only our table and stood outside of our door the whole night, waiting for my next call of "Fuwuyuan!"

This whole experience was so grand that my wife started to worry about the pricing, as service of this echelon would easily accompany a HKD$5000 (CAD$625) meal in Hong Kong, or at least a RMB 2000 (CAD$300) meal in Beijing.



The food was just as excellent as the service, as the first course immediately treated us to the legendary taste of Shanxi Aged Vinegar. Modestly named Liangban Sixiaowan (mixed salad in four little bowls), the flavor was anything but modest -- this was in fact one of the best cold dishes of our trip. The complex flavor of the smoke-fermented, probably 10-15 years old Aged Vinegar brought out the best of the simple and fresh ingredients. Yun'er (cloud ears mushrooms) and Enoki mushrooms may be commonplace everywhere in China, but that remarkable complexity of quality vinegar put an unmistakable Shanxi signature on the dish. And this wasn't even the best dish yet.



Our favorite item was an even simpler dish that every Chinese housewife can make, the ordinary Mogu Qingcai, or mushrooms and greens. Any half decent restaurant can do lobsters or scallops satisfactorily, but to elevate the flavor of a cheap (only RMB 16!) vegetable dish to the star of the meal requires real skills. The sauce seemed abalone- or dried scallop-based (Zhongdu is also locally famous for abalones and sea cucumbers, for clients more affluent than us) and also contained a dose of ... no surprise there ... Shanxi Aged Vinegar. And all that was absorbed into the soft Shiitake mushrooms. This was truly an excellent dish.



But Shanxi cuisine's main claim to fame is its noodles, and we had a hard time deciding between the assortment of shapes, many strangely and incomprehensibly named in the local dialect. We ended up selecting something we've never heard of, a pasta dish called Balanzi, which roughly meant "stirred broken." It turned out to be a potato-wheat flour pasta, irregularly shaped, and stir fried in oil with green onions and a hint of chili for flare. Excellent pasta at an unbelievable price of RMB 8 (CAD$1.2)! -- this was up-market taste and service at streetside noodle house pricing.



Our only meat dish, relatively priciest at only RMB 30 (CAD$4.5), turned out to be the only slip-up of the night according to my tastebuds. I would have preferred the sauce on the pork knuckle to be much thicker and seasoned with more vinegar to balance out the oiliness, but perhaps that's just me.

With one cold starter, one hot vegetable entree, one meat entree, one pasta and a large beer (Chrysanthemum Beer from Yanjing) for two persons, the grand total came to RMB 88 (CAD$13.3). Now you understand why this is such a great restaurant, in terms of Price to Quality Ratio. I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Pingyao.

But the story gets more interesting. We decided to leave a few RMB of tips on the table, which is acceptable in higher class restaurants in Beijing and expected in Hong Kong. Only we were stopped by the greeters on the way out of the hotel, and was chased down by one of the servers to return the money to us. When I explained that this was Xiaofei (tips), the girls just chuckled. To this date this remains one of my favorite memories of Pingyao -- a well-executed, well-served dinner in a private hotel room that cost less than RMB 90, and we weren't even allowed to leave tips.

Bill for Two Persons

Mixed Salad in Four Little Bowls	RMB 22
Mushrooms and Greens	RMB 16
Stir Fried Balanzi	RMB 8
Zhongdu Pork Knuckle	RMB 30
Large Chrysanthemum Beer	RMB 12
TOTAL	RMB 88(CAD$13.3)

Food Review: GUANG JU YUAN (Pingyao)
Address: Xiguan Dajie, Pingyao
Hours: 11:00-21:00?
Website/Map: None
Directions:From the Train Station, walk south on the main street for one block. Turn right at the traffic light. Guang Ju Yuan is a 2 minute walk down the street, on the right hand side.


Another restaurant highly recommended by Pingyao locals on Tieba, Guangjuyuan is one of the city's best noodle houses and a favorite lunch spot of students from Pingyao 2nd High School across the street. That doesn't mean it's only good for a quick and cheap bite though, as we arrived at 13:30, on a school day, to find the larger tables occupied by locals throwing a mini lunch banquet.

Guangjuyuan is all about pasta, as the words Mian Shi Guan (noodle house) on its full name implies. And this is exactly the purpose of our visit –- a taste of the best authentic noodles, at one of the city's best noodle houses, in China's premier noodle-producing region. All the noodles are hand-rolled of course, and most are unique to Shanxi Province and are found nowhere else in China. This is as good as it gets, if you're a fan of pasta dishes.



But first we had to follow the local tradition and start with a cold dish, in fact the most famous dish of Pingyao -- the renowned Pingyao Beef. This soft-textured, slightly salted meat is mass-produced in factories and really tastes the same everywhere, but the price here was cheaper (RMB 22) and the portion was much larger than inside the City Wall.



Moving onto hot dishes, this Zhima Qiezi, or eggplants in sesame, had chunks of soft, scaldingly hot eggplants enveloped in caramelized syrup and generously coated with browned sesame. No parent should have trouble coaxing their children into having more these veggies -- you could even call it a delectable dessert.

But the real focus of our visit was of course the amazing varieties of unique hand-rolled noodles. Through thousands of years, the locals of Shanxi Province have turned the curse of perennial droughts into a wide diversity of drought-tolerant, smaller-crop grains, and subsequently turned these grains into an extensive repertoire of pasta dishes.

The two of us only had stomach room for three pasta dishes. From your honest reporter, here they are:



The first was a cold appetizer named Wantu in the Pingyao dialect, which we jokingly called One-Two. Loosely translatable to "bald bowl," Wantu is made by pouring a semi-liquid wheat flour mixture into a bowl, steaming into a solid cake, then slicing into strips. Topped with a dressing of soy sauce, Aged Vinegar and chili pepper, the end product isn't quite as chewy as the next two pasta dishes, but was still an enjoyable appetizer.



The next pasta dish was simply weird to see and even more weird to pronounce. I have no idea what its name -- You Mian Kao Lao Lao -- means in the local dialect, though You Mian refers to the naked oat (or hulless oat) grain used as ingredient. These finger-rolled cannelloni-like pasta are stood up on their ends, steamed, and served with the two dipping sauces, vinegar or spicy tomato. The texture was incredibly chewy, and went very well especially with the vinegar.



The final pasta was another curiously named dish called Cuoyu'er, or kneaded fish. The shape was somewhat similar to the silver needle noodles (Yinzhenfen) of southern China, except it's made of a naked oat / wheat mixture which made it quite chewy. The pasta was accompanied by two sauces, minced meat and tomato, which we simply mixed together.

Which one was my favorite out of the three pasta dishes? Valuing chewiness in pasta dishes, I especially loved the You Mian Kao Lao Lao. But naked oat is more difficult to digest than wheat and may not suit everyone, so it's probably better for two or three people to share one steamer.

Bill for Two Persons

Pingyao Beef Slices	RMB 22
Eggplants in Sesame	RMB 18
Cold Wantu in Dressing	RMB 6
Steamed Hulless Oat Kaolaolao	RMB 14
Rolled Fish Pasta	RMB 5
TOTAL	RMB 65(CAD$9.8)

Food Review: PING YAO QIN GE DA GUO ZAI (Pingyao)
Address: Beiguan Dajie, Pingyao
Hours: 11:00-21:00?
Website/Map: None
Directions:From the old city's North Gate, walk straight north on Beiguan street. It's a little red eatery on the right hand side, within a 2 minute walk down the street.


I didn't bring the SLR camera and don't have a clear photo of how this restaurant looks. But this place is famous -- just walk outside the City Wall's North Gate and ask the locals, and most people should be able to point you in its direction.

With a long and hard-to-pronounce name, Ping Yao Qin Ge Da Guo Zai is another eatery recommended by locals on Baidu.com's Tieba. Probably the first franchise chain originating from Pingyao, its trademark still features the city's name with pride. This is as authentically local as it gets.



Qin Ge Da, in the local dialect, seems to refer to these personal-sized hotpots. As outsiders (myself included) have no idea what it means, the franchise also added the common term of Guo Zai (small hotpot) to the name. There were about 10 or 15 different varieties, all reasonably priced at around RMB 16-25 per pot which includes all the meat, veggies and noodles you won't be able to finish in one sitting. The locals must all be burning 5000 calories a day, as this is even more filling than it already looks.



I ordered a Chuan Jia Fu (Everything In), which was decent but contained too many bone-in chunks of chicken for my preference. The Shi Jin Su Cai (Assorted Veggies) that my wife ordered turned out to be a excellent choice, and at a cheaper price as well (RMB 18). But whatever you pick, it's hard to go wrong with a locally flavored, personal hotpot for RMB 25 (CAD$3.8) or less. Remember this place if you're planning to take a long-distance bus, as it is located at just 5 minutes walk south of the bus station.

Bill for Two Persons

Qin Ge Da (Everything In)	RMB 25
Qin Ge Da (Assorted Veggies)	RMB 18
Mushrooms and Greens	RMB 10
Yanjing Draft Beer	RMB 12
TOTAL	RMB 65(CAD$9.8)

Ancient City of Pingyao - Part 2: Hotel Review

Staying within the City Wall will give you the chance to explore the old city in its tranquility after all the tour buses leave for the night. And if you're the kind of traveler who enjoys staying in a Machiya in Kyoto or a cliff-side room in Santorini, you won't want anything less than a Siheyuan courtyard in Pingyao ... and at a comparatively much cheaper price.

This guide is thus focused on traditional Kezhan guesthouses within the old city. If you're looking for modern hotels with excellent accessibility, Zhongdu and Juguangju are both reputable hotels located close to the Train Station. I've personally been to Zhongdu for dinner and the service was excellent.


Hotel Review: RUIYUSHENG (Pingyao)
Address: 89 Xidajie, Pingyao
Price: RMB 188 for double room with private shower/toilet, summer 2011
Website/Map: http://www.pyydt.com
How To Book: Through Ctrip.com
Directions: Enter the old city through the Lower West Gate closest to the train station. Ruiyusheng is approximately 5 minutes walk inside the gate on the main street of Xidajie, on the left hand side.


Just one of the many Siheyuan courtyard houses converted into Kezhan guesthouses, Ruiyusheng was our choice mainly for its easy access to excellent restaurants outside of the City Wall. In typical Northern Chinese fashion guestrooms on all sides face the courtyard, hence the term Siheyuan, or courtyard enclosed on four sides. When we visited in 2011, double rooms with private shower/toilet and double breakfast went for RMB 188 (CAD$29), and would probably drop to 60% during winter. At least that's the booking price on CTrip.com. Walking in and bargaining may get you a better deal if rooms are still vacant, which some were during our stay in May.



One major attraction of Pingyao's traditional Kezhans is the experience of sleeping on a farmhouse style Kang bed, with beddings set up atop an earthen or brick hearth. It's how hardy peasants endured Northern China's snowy winter for centuries, and it's softer and more comfy than it sounds. Traditional grain-filled pillows and windows decorated with paper-cut silhouettes added to the decor, while the toilet and shower were thankfully Westernized and modern.



Though the hearth is now sealed, some vestiges of old architecture still remains. The wall at the end of our Kang bed had a couple of antique-looking doors ...



... which opened to an excellent little nook for folded backpacks and cameras bags! You never know what you'll encounter at these Qing Dynasty houses.



Breakfast was as traditional as can be and tasted distinctively of Shanxi Province. Breakfast for two consisted of three warm or cold vegetables dishes, a few boiled eggs and steamed bread rolls, and a large pot of millet porridge to share. The vegetable dishes were often mildly spicy and always seasoned with a hint of Shanxi's famously aged vinegar. We always finished our entire pot of millet porridge every single morning, washing down the various dishes.



One breakfast dish stood out among everything else. The soy-based sauce in these Red Braised Cabbages was common anywhere in China, but it was the aged vinegar that added an extra layer of complexity and elevated the entire dish. This was one of the most memorable breakfast dishes on our 16-day trip.



Other dishes, mainly zucchinis, cucumbers and other miscellaneous veggies, were quite forgettable but did their jobs at supplying a good half day's energy for sightseeing.



We did see a couple things that we didn't like. Hot water was theoretically available 24/7, but the water pump was often turned off to save energy, and required a trip to the front desk to sort out. The bathroom floor drainage also could be improved.

Overall Ruiyusheng is still a decent choice for a traditional Kezhan within the old city, which seems to be getting more expensive every year. It's strategically located within walking distance to main sights inside the City Wall, as well as excellent restaurants outside. The main clientelle seemed to consist mostly of budget-conscious domestic travelers, so I'm not sure of the owner's English abilities. The one Polish guy I met didn't seem to complain though.


OTHER GUESTHOUSES

As previously mentioned our main reason for picking Ruiyusheng was its quick access to excellent restaurants outside of the Lower West Gate, near the Train Station. If you don't mind taking the local tricycle taxis, there are quite a number of similarly priced Kezhan guesthouses within the City Wall. The list of guesthouses under our consideration included:

Cheng Jia Lao Yuan - http://www.pycjly.com/
Wen Yuan Kui - http://www.wenyuankui.com/index.html
Hong Jin Tai - http://www.pyhjt.com/zxyd/index.asp
Heng Sheng Fu - http://www.179py.com/hotel/index.html
Guang Xian Yuan - http://www.pygxy.com
Shu Zhuo Yuan - http://www.pyszy.com
Chang Tai Yong - http://www.ctyhotel.com
Zheng Jia Youth Hostel - http://www.hotelpingyao.com
Harmony Gueshouse - http://www.py-harmony.com

Ancient City of Pingyao - Part 1: Practical Info

This series of 6 articles is dedicated to Pingyao, where we passed through the ancient city gate in the summer of 2011 and spent four memorable nights within. I hope this will help non-Chinese-speaking readers navigate this spectacular and underrated corner of Northern China.







As a Chinese-speaking foreigner and food enthusiast, I feel that current English resources on the Internet hardly scratches the surface of this fascinating destination. Yes the Ming Dynasty streets are romantic by night and the city walls are impressive, but there is so much more depth to the city.







For instance the deliciously rustic Shanxi cuisine is rarely mentioned in English reviews of Pingyao. If you're remotely passionate about Chinese food, the whole Province of Shanxi is an immensely underrated region. We just had an amazingly executed meal of Shanxi cuisine at one of the city's top restaurants, inside our own private room with a dedicated private waitress, for merely RMB 88 (CAD$13) for two persons. To this date Pingyao remains one of my favorite memories of China, and I wish to make it equally enjoyable for the next guy.







INTRODUCTION TO PINGYAO



The ancient city of Pingyao, with its well-preserved Ming and Qing Dynasty streets nestled within mighty fortress-like walls, needs little introduction as a tourist destination. Internationally it has become famous as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a backpacker hangout. Domestically it is well-known as one of the two best-preserved ancient cities along with Lijiang in the south, and its relative proximity to Beijing (meaning 8 hours away by tour buses) makes it even more attractive for weekend trippers from the capital.



The good news is ... most visitors, especially tour groups, tend to rush through the major sights around Pingyao within a day or two at most. Stay for a few nights and you'll have most of the city's ancient quarters to yourself in the morning and evening.







SUGGESTED ITINERARY



Pingyao isn't small. The fortified ancient city alone easily takes two days of non-stop sightseeing to see it all, and that doesn't even include visiting the best authentic restaurants outside of the city walls. In addition the spectacular ancient temples of Shuanglin Si (incredible one-of-a-kind terracotta sculptures) and Zhenguo Si (one of the oldest wooden structures in China) will require short taxi trips to visit. You'll also definitely want to visit one of the merchant clan compounds, probably the Wang's Family Compound or the Qiao's Family Compound, which would take at least another half day. If you've traveled this far from Beijing just to see Pingyao, do yourself a huge favor and experience it all.







DAY ONE - Rishengchang - Armed Escort Museums - Lunch - Yamen - City God Temple - Confucius Temple - Dinner - Spend the evening on Nandajie street



DAY TWO - Other museums on Nandajie - City Wall - Lunch outside City Wall - Taxi to Shuanglin Temple and/or Zhenguo Temple and back - Dinner outside of City Wall



DAY THREE - Finish the rest of the Museums - Half-day trip to Wang's Family Compound or Qiao's Family Compound - See the real Pingyao outside of City Wall - Dinner outside of City Wall







TRANSPORTATION



The easiest way to reach Pingyao is by train via the provincial capital of Taiyuan in the north (2-3 hours by local trains). Taiyuan is now connected to Beijing through the high speed rail network, making Pingyao as accessible as ever.



Connecting to other major destinations take a little more planning due to infrequent service. Datong and the famous Yungang Grottoes are connected by several local trains a day, taking close to 7 hours. We took a bus to Taiyuan then a highway bus to Datong, a complex method which I do not recommend (long story). Luoyang and the Shaolin Temple are a 10 hour train ride to the south on slow local trains. Hancheng and the stunning Dangjiacun are a 5 hour train ride to the southwest, and the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an is a further 2 hours from Hancheng by highway bus.



The train station is a 15 minute walk outside of the City Wall's Lower West Gate, to the northwest. The long distance bus station is a 10 minute walk north of the North Gate.







BEST AND WORST SIGHTS



You can educate yourself on all the major sights on Lonely Planet or Wikitravel. I'll keep this short and offer my own experiences and shortcuts.



City Wall - Climb up the stairs by the South Gate, where you'll get a panoramic view with the City Tower, the Confucius Temple and the City God Temple as backdrop. Walk east towards the southeast corner, then turn north. The entire wall has 72 towers and a circumference of over 6 km, so you may not want to walk the whole way. No bike rentals atop the wall like Xi'an, which is a bit of a shame.



Rishengchang - Very crowded but worthwhile -- visit early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The father of Qing Dynasty draft banks, Rishengchang was an integral part of Imperial China's finances and once operated as far as Russia and India. You'll get some fabulous photos of its courtyards if you can wait out the crowds.



Biaoju - There are several "Armed Escort Museums," two located on Dongdajie (East Main Street) and two on Nandajie (South Main Street). This is where you can try out all the martial arts training setups and exotic weapons you've seen in Chinese movies. Balancing myself on the Plum Blossom Stakes turned out to be much tougher than I thought.







City God Temple - Beautiful glazed yellow-and-green roof tiles set this temple apart from the ubiquitous grey in the rest of Pingyao. You need a tough stomach to appreciate the sculptures depicting the 18 punishments in hell.



Confucius Temple - Large, rambling complex full of well-restored sculptures and beautiful finishing touches around every corner. The Song Dynasty calligraphies brings visitors back to the days of the old Imperial Court Exams when the temple served as the regional educational institution.



Yamen - The local government office is best known for its court case reenactments, scheduled at 11:00, 13:00, 15:30 when we visited.



Er Lang Miao - WARNING: Avoid at all cost. This authentic looking temple on Beidajie (North Main Street, just south of the North Gate) sounds like a Buddhist temple (ie. ends with Miao), looks like a Taoist shrine (sports Chinese banners reading "Famous Shrine of Taoism" at the entrance), but is really neither. Numerous visitors have reported fake Taoist monks scamming people for money with questionable rituals, often charging several hundred RMB per offering of incense. Pretending to not speak Chinese nor English would be a good idea if you find yourself accidentally stumbling inside.







HOTEL REVIEWS



See Part 2 of this series. Don't miss the rare chance to spend a few nights in some of the most atmospheric traditional dwellings in China.





RESTAURANT REVIEWS



See Parts 3 and 4 of this series. As previous mentioned I consider Pingyao to be a greatly underrated destination for foodies. Once you venture outside of the city walls into the real Pingyao, there are plenty of choices for excellent food at absolute bargain bottom prices.









SIDE-TRIPS



Shuanglin Temple -- Protected as part of Pingyao’s UNESCO World Heritage Site is the spectacular temple of Shuanglin Si, truly in a class of its own with a huge collection of stunning terracotta sculptures found nowhere else. IMHO this is probably the most visually spectacular sight in the vicinity of Pingyao, and really shouldn’t be missed.







These are not your typical standalone statues, but thousands of extravagant figurines and relief sculptures that seem almost organically woven into the temple’s interior structures. No photos are allowed inside in order to protect the brilliant colours from the flashlights of marauding tourists, which is a bit of a shame.







The local bus stops quite a distance from the actual temple though (probably a 30 minute walk), and we opted to just hire a taxi from Pingyao for RMB 50 roundtrip, including the taxi’s RMB 10 parking fee at the temple. It’s a beautiful, largely uncrowded complex to spend time in the afternoon.



Wang's Family Compound - The largest residential compound in China outside of the Forbidden City, this family castle belonged to Shanxi's most successful merchant clan. It is so vast, so beautiful and so well-preserved that it's only a matter of time before it becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See my detailed review here.







Qiao's Family Compound - Another complex belonging to another wealthy Shanxi merchant clan, the Qiaos. Qiao Jia Da Yuan shot to national fame in 2006 when state-owned CCTV filmed a 45-episode drama of the same name in the complex. Most people would agree though, that Wang's is much larger and much more worthwhile for tourists.



Other Family Compounds - The Chang, the Qu and the Cao also have their family compounds open for exhibition, and are probably stately and picturesque as well, if you have even more time.





Zhenguo Temple - We did not plan to visit, but it is known to be one of the oldest standing wooden temples in China at over 1,000 years old.



Mianshan - Claiming a long history of 2,300 years, this complex of precarious-looking structures hugging the steep mountain side is really recently developed in the 21st century. The natural scenery may actually be worth it, though we didn't bother to find out. This is located in the vicinity of Wang's Family Compound, so a combined visit with a stay at Mianshan's new resort can be an option for those who have more time.



Zhangbi Castle - This is one place I really wish I had the time to visit. Zhangbi Castle's tunnel defense system is said to be so extensive and potentially dangerous that no one is allowed to enter without a guide ... but then that could just be a ploy to help out the guides. It is located on the way to Wang's Family Compound, and is quite possible to combine with Wang's on a day-trip if you don't mind hiring your own taxi (or find someone to split the cost) for the day.

The Hidden Valley of Dangjiacun

There exists a beautiful medieval village in China, right on the tourist route between Xi'an and Pingyao, which somehow manages to escape the attention of international and even domestic tourists. In fact when I mentioned it to hotel and taxi operators in neighboring Shanxi Province, nobody had even heard of it. And these were people working in the local tourism industry.



I have no idea how the village of Dangjiacun can remain undiscovered by tourists for so long -- the folk architecture is rustically spectacular; the farm cooking is excellent and cheap (see detailed food review below); the people are friendly; and it's only a 20 minute taxi ride from the major train stop of Hancheng. Even the government recognizes this hidden gem, placing it on China's tentative list for submission as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



Surviving the Sino-Japanese War, Mao's Cultural Revolution, and then the rapid urbanization of the post-Deng Xiaoping era, Dangjiacun is now recognized in the 21st century as somewhat of a living fossil. This is no open-air museum, but a living medieval village with a long line of original descendants still carrying out their ancient customs. For 25 generations and 680 years, the clans of Dang (hence the name Dangjiacun, or Dang's Family Village) and Jia have expanded their sphere of influence from here, and what started out as a small hamlet had grown into a well-known trade centre along this stretch of the Yellow River by mid-Qing Dynasty. Hundreds of traditional Siheyuan courtyards were constructed through six centuries, amazingly with more than a hundred surviving to this date.



Descending into the valley from the only access road above, the visitor would enter through a maze of cobblestone paths into an 18th century time warp. The medieval village is still very much alive with its intact water well system, two ancestral worship halls (one for the Dang clan and one for the Jia clan), a village school, a Fengshui tower housed within the school grounds, and old storehouses still storing coal sludge as a primitive cooking fuel. Private in-house bathrooms remain a novelty even in 2011, and a large communal bathhouse continues to serve the entire village daily. Villagers hand-drawing water from neighboring water wells is a frequent scene -- life hasn't changed much over the past 600 years aside from having a few solar water heaters on the roofs.



Successfully resisting the invasion of large-scale tourism thus far, the villagers have been amazing at minimizing the type of development that has forever tainted many such towns. The only dedicated tourism facility here is the ticket booth that hires out local Chinese-speaking guides -- this is where the commercialism ends. The temples and ancestral worship halls are still in use and are open for all to visit. The exquisite courtyards that double as exhibition areas are mostly still inhabited by the original descendants. As long as your visit doesn't coincide with the Golden Week holidays, you're unlikely to run into even a medium-sized tour group. And most amazingly, there are still no souvenir stores -- NONE -- as of 2011. This is almost unheard-of in China.



This raw beauty of a genuine living Northern Chinese village is what really distinguishes Dangjiacun from the likes of Pingyao and Lijiang. Compared to Pingyao's expensively restored and picture-perfect courtyards, most of Dangjiacun's courtyards and alleys remain in the original, pre-restoration state they have stood for centuries. Most villagers have not yet been converted to serving the tourism industry, and the usage of their houses remain mostly private. A few houses do welcome visitors into their private space to see their collections of spectacular relief sculptures and other relics for a nominal fee (RMB 2), but even more have "Do Not Enter" signs in Chinese to ward off curious visitors mistaking them for folk museums.



Each courtyards is typically occupied by one family with its own long history and traditions. Family doctrines passing down from the ancestors still occupy the most eye-catching locations in the courtyard, and I came across my favorite one here:

Pride should not be allowed to grow;
The desires should not be indulged;
The will should not be gratified to the full;
Pleasure should not be carried to excess



The level of sophistication here is far beyond what could be expected of a remote farming village in Shaanxi Province's countryside. As a community of no more than a couple thousand, it managed to flourish as a regional cultural and educational centre for several hundred years. Per-capita-wise the villagers had incredible success in the old Imperial Court entrance exams, and to this day calligraphy plaques are still raised with great pride above many houses to recognize the families' past glory serving the Emperor.



Walking down narrow alleys here also offers a real perspective on contemporary life in rural China, beyond what can be appreciated from TV or the Internet. Heating and cooking is still dependant on the highly-polluting coal sludge, often simply store-piled at a corner outside of the family compound. Internet has arrived at most households, while satellite TV is only starting to pop up on the roofs of a few affluent houses. The free market economy of Deng, Jiang and Hu is much welcome, though the old communism giants of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Zhou are still plastered on walls and highly revered. And young kids, male and female, still run around wearing a unique type of open-bottom pants designed to ... ahem ... quickly get parents out of crappy situations in public in the absence of proper toilets.



But all this is bound to change. Dangjiacun shot to national fame in 2006 when China's Cultural Heritage department elevated it to the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage, opening the door to precious tourism dollars for the relatively undeveloped province of Shaanxi. Where Dangjiacun now stands in terms of tourism development is probably where Pingyao used to be, a couple of decades ago. If the romance of Magome-juku or Telc appeal to you as a traveler, keep this underrated gem in your to-see list also. And see it soon, before the first hotels and souvenir shops roll in.





TRANSPORTATION
The small city of Hancheng, located just 20 minutes from Dangjiacun by taxi, is the region's transportation hub. If you're coming from Xi'an like we were, highway buses make convenient, comfortable and relatively fast connections to Hancheng, departing every 20-30 minutes from 07:30 until 18:00. Buses depart from Xi'an's East Passenger Transport Station (Chengdong Keyunzhan), cost RMB 65 as of 2011, and take only 2.5 hours (compared to taking anywhere from 4 to 7 hours by train) to arrive at Hancheng's New City Bus Station (Xincheng Qichezhan). Hancheng Train Station, located just a block away, is served mostly by the slow local trains but can be useful for making direct connections to Pingyao and Taiyuan in the neighboring Shanxi Province. We took train 1164, in a slow and crowded carriage full of migrant workers, towards Pingyao in the late afternoon.

From Hancheng you can easily flag down a taxi to get to Dangjiacun (RMB 30 in 2011). Large baggages can be left for the day at the luggage deposit on the right hand side of the Hancheng Train Station (RMB 2 per baggage). Once you get to Dangjiacun you won't find an official taxi stand, but our host was (and probably any villager who owns a vehicle would be) eager to drive us back to Hancheng Train Station in his old van. We paid him the same rate as taxi, which was much welcome.



ACCOMMODATION
With no hotels or even backpacker hostels in the village, Dangjiacun is as authentic and rustic as it gets. Spending a night here would mean staying in one of these beautiful Siheyuan courtyards and fully immersing into village life with a local family -- after all this is all they have. This also means ditching all the Westernized comfort that most visitors take for granted: all toilets, many being the squatting type, are shared; bathing takes place at the communal bathhouse; air-con and heating are rarely available, and meals are shared with the host family. As of summer 2011 rooms seem to cost around RMB 50, though they're likely even cheaper in the off-season. At the time of writing there is no way to reserve online -- have a Chinese-speaking friend (or hotel concierge) call 0913-5322776 or 0913-5322544 to make reservations.



Food Review: YI FEN LI (Dangjiacun village, Hancheng)
Address: Near entrance of village, Dangjiacun, Hancheng
Hours: 08:00-20:00?
Website/Map: None
Directions: Starting from the ticket booth, walk down to the square/parking area in front of the village. Yi Fen Li is the Siheyuan courtyard at the top left corner of the square.


We had one of the most memorable dishes of our trip right here in Dangjiacun, inside this virtually unknown eatery. At the time of writing I've never seen any other reviews in Chinese or in English, and I felt the need to give it the proper review it deserves.



Now it can hardly be called a restaurant -- frankly it's no more than a local farmhouse informally operating as a guesthouse and also serves Shaanxi Province's rustic farm cooking. It serves no more than a small number of simple dishes, but at least one of these dishes was executed as well as any formal restaurant I've visited anywhere in China.

Housed inside one of Dangjiacun's better preserved Siheyuan courtyards, Yi Fen Li is operated by a middle-aged couple named ... what else ... Mr. and Mrs. Dang. Several rooms in their courtyard can be rented as bed-and-breakfast for RMB 50 per night, and the family van doubles as a casual taxi for guests. All rooms were occupied by a production crew filming a TV soap opera during our visit, indicating that this was perhaps the most comfortable place to stay in the village.



No English menu was available, though the dishes were inexpensive even by Chinese standards. Vegetable dishes, typically salads of eggplants, cucumbers, spinach, or firm tofu, started from RMB 9 (CAD$1.4). Meat dishes including wild boar, pig ears, and yellow croaker fish cost around RMB 30 (CAD$4.5). Various noodles such as Saozi Mian (minced pork noodles), Zhajiang Mian (noodles with gravy), and Wonton were RMB 7 (CAD$1.1) for a large bowl or RMB 5 (CAD$0.8) for a small bowl.



This one dish was not only one of the best of our 16-day trip, but also one of the cheapest at RMB 9. Don't be misled by the picture -- the eggplant was actually purple but Mrs. Dang peeled the skin off before stir-frying it in garlic-infused oil. The most amazing thing about this warm salad of Suan Ni Qie Zi, or Eggplant in Minced Garlic, was the way it delivered a pronounced garlic flavor ... there was hardly any trace of garlic inside the dish! The way these simple and cheap ingredients were combined into this dish could only be described as perfection -- I have never tasted something this good costing as little as CAD$1.4.



Comparatively the Red Braised Pork Chunks (Hong Shao Da Kuai Rou) wasn't quite as amazingly delicious, but perhaps its magic was partially reduced as we asked for a non-spicy version. The chili peppers and Sichuan peppers still packed a tinge of heat and the taste was still decent, though I thought the pork was slightly dry.



To finish the meal my wife wanted some wonton, which turned out to be a huge heaping bowl of grape-sized hand-made dumplings with even more marinated five-spice tofu, seaweed and various vegetables. This RMB 7 (CAD$1.1) dish could easily serve as a meal on its own.

It was quite an enjoyable meal overall, especially considering the scarcity of choices within the village and the reasonable pricing. In retrospect I should have skipped the pork and tried a few more of their wonderful vegetable dishes. That would be my advice for any readers heading to Dangjiacun.

Bill for Two Persons

Eggplants in Minced Garlic	RMB 9
Red Braised Pork Chunks	RMB 30
Wonton	RMB 7
TOTAL	RMB 46 (CAD$7)