【大耳朵朗读大赛专用文章】
【标题】PINGYAO
【内容】
This town is almost perfectly preserved after 2,700 years. The road here starts in Taiyuan, the capital of impoverished Shanxi province, 250 miles southwest of Beijing. After 90 minutes of monotonous driving west through landscape that is unrelievedly flat, gray and parched, ancient city walls suddenly loom, like a mirage.
Over a restaurant dinner of local specialties, including beef stomach and noodles made from green-bean flour, Zhou Yujing, Pingyao’s 55-year-old now-retired director of tourism, reflected on how the town has managed to avoid the redevelopment so many other historic Chinese communities have gone through. ’It was thanks to poverty that they didn’t rebuild the city,’ Mr. Zhou says. ’Our poverty proved to be a blessing in disguise.’
But what makes Pingyao worth seeing is its long history of wealth. From the late 1700s to the early 1900s, it was China’s banking center, when affluent merchants created a sophisticated economic infrastructure for moving large sums of money; coded calligraphy on bank checks deterred counterfeiters. In the 18th century, bank owners and merchants competed to flaunt their wealth, building houses with dozens of rooms opening onto multiple courtyards. Particularly impressive is the Rishengchang Financial House Museum, a courtyard home with more than 100 rooms and much of the original furniture. Mr. Zhou says by the 19th century, China’s banks numbered roughly 50; 40 were based in Shanxi, and half of those had headquarters in Pingyao.
【温馨提示】大耳朵在线英语教学频道，登录YY工具，进入频道ID：2831
|
