Pingcheng Town, Lingchuan County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province

Pingcheng town

Pingcheng town belongs to Lingchuan County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It is located in the north of Lingchuan County, where Changling, Linghui, Pinglin and other highways meet. It was one of the four towns in the county. It has jurisdiction over 31 administrative villages with an area of 51.8 square kilometers and a total population of 25441 (2017). In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the town's smelting and brewing industry was very prosperous, and its products sold well in Northern Henan and other places.

geographical position

Pingcheng, an ancient town, is located in the Intermountain basin 6 kilometers north of Lingchuan County. Surrounded by mountains,

The hills and hills are piled up, which is located in the heart of "ten thousand peaks in a row, suddenly in a nest". The town is connected with Liuquan Township in the East, qinjiazhuang in the west, Chongwen town in the South and Huguan County in the north. Changling highway runs through the north and south, quhui and Pingxi highways meet in the town, with developed transportation and prosperous commerce. It is an important political, economic and cultural town in the north of Lingchuan in ancient and modern times.

Historical evolution

According to the records of Lingchuan County annals, Pingcheng was inhabited by human beings as early as before Yao and shun. During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, it was led by Jizhou, and it was the "King's capital" under the direct jurisdiction of the king of Xia and Shang. In the spring and Autumn period, it belonged to Jin and Han Dynasties first, and then returned to Zhao Dynasty. After Qin Shihuang unified China, it was under the jurisdiction of Gaodu County, Shangdang county. From the Western Han Dynasty to the two Jin Dynasties, it was under the jurisdiction of Weishi County. Lingchuan County was established in the 16th year of kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (596 A.D.), and Pingcheng was under the jurisdiction of Gaodu County since then. From the Sui Dynasty to Lingchuan, through the development of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the prosperity of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and the brilliance of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ancient town has gone through thousands of years of vicissitudes.

Natural climate

The climate of the whole town is cool, the annual average temperature is 9.60 ℃, and the annual precipitation is 714mm. Frost free period varies with topography and altitude, with an average of 186 days. The annual average high temperature is 15 ℃, the average low temperature is 5 ℃, the extreme high temperature is 34.2 ℃, the extreme low temperature is - 24.4 ℃, the winter is colder, the time is 160 days, the summer is shorter, about 20 days. The average temperature of the hottest month is 21.0 ℃ in July, and the average temperature of the coldest month is - 5.2 ℃ in January.

economic development

Before the founding of the people's Republic of China, it used to be the commodity distribution center of Lingchuan, diguan, Changzhi and Linxian County in Henan Province, with numerous shops and merchants. In recent years, it has built a commercial trade street with hundreds of shops, a wide range of agricultural and sideline products and general merchandise. It is a regional commodity trading center. In addition, the industry here has also made great progress, and the main industries have also made great progress. The main industries are coal and iron smelting, and the town run enterprises mainly include Xichuan coal mine, nanyinghe coal mine and iron factory.

Old style

Developed trade

Pingcheng was the key to the official business road in ancient times. Developed commerce and culture. As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Pingcheng had a wide range of commodity trading markets inside and outside the province. In the past, there were more than 200 shops, shops and workshops in Dongxi old street, Shizi lane and Nantang lane. Not only are there many shops, merchants and goods in the town, but also there are iron goods shops, sundry shops, cloth shops and hotels in Jincheng, Yangcheng, Xinxiang, Hebi and Daokou in Henan Province, Shandong, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and they have a certain reputation in the local area. According to historical records, Pingcheng had a saying of "100 stoves, 10 brews and 1000 shops" in the Ming Dynasty, which fully reflects the development and prosperity of smelting, brewing and handicraft industry in Pingcheng at that time.

Historical celebrities

The prosperity of Commerce and trade made some merchants and rich gentry in the ancient town understand the importance of educating their children to honor their ancestors and change their families. Therefore, the ancient private school education came into being in the local area. Not to mention the numerous officials in Pingcheng in the past dynasties, Zhao Anshi and Zhao Anrong, who came out of Yangzhai in the Jin Dynasty, jointly created a brilliant history of Pingcheng. Zhao Anshi was the number one scholar in the reign of emperor Zhenyuan of Jin Hailing. He held the posts of Zhongshun doctor, general manager of Nanjing Road army and horse capital, captain of Shangqi, and Jiedushi of Yongding army. Zhao Anrong was Zhao Anshi's younger brother and the number one scholar in the reign of emperor Xizong. He was a senior official of the Qing Dynasty and a governor of the Yongding army. There are two inscriptions written by Zhao Anshi, which are important material materials for the study of Lingchuan history.

Ancient architecture

With a long history, Pingcheng has a large number of cultural relics and historic sites, with towering temples, numerous steles, magnificent attics and elegant dwellings. One of the largest existing ancient residential buildings is the Guojia courtyard in Beijie. The hospital covers an area of more than 6200 square meters, and is composed of 10 courtyards. There are 72 doors built together. The courtyards are separated and connected. It is said that the ancestor of the Grand Courtyard designed the "Erlong Xizhu" scheme as early as the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. After several generations of "searching for a horse according to the plan", it was not realized for various reasons. But only from the existing buildings, the layout is rigorous, the scale is grand, the architecture is exquisite, very spectacular. The most difference between Guojia compound and other residential compound is that the gate is mostly double-layer.

The lintels, wooden columns and window sashes in the courtyard are all carved with wood, including dragons, beasts, deer and cranes, pomegranates, lotus flowers and peonies. The lion carved on the stone drum at the gate pier is vivid and lively. There is also a plaque on the gate of the main courtyard, with vigorous and thick handwriting. From it, we can see the literary charm of the former courtyard and the superb artistic level of the residential buildings in the Qing Dynasty.

cultural heritage

Pingcheng's ancient architectural heritage is widely distributed, known as "ten Temple society" in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the most distinctive is the loft architecture called "ancient circle" by local people. Among the 20 villages under the jurisdiction of Pingcheng Town, almost every village has built ancient pavilions. These ancient pavilions are either built on the mountain, near the water, across the river, or along the road. However, they all have one common feature: they are built on the road leading to Pingcheng, and the pavilions face Pingcheng. Now the best preserved in the town are Sanhuang Pavilion in the north of Pingcheng main street and Guansheng Pavilion in the middle of old street. Among them, the Sanhuang Pavilion is the most exquisite. The pavilion is built on a platform more than three meters high, towering, Xiongshi ancient town. The pavilion is divided into three floors, with a door opening at the bottom. The second and third floors are topped with wooden columns inside and outside, with half of the flower wall at the outer ring, and the inside and outside are separated by exquisitely carved window sashes. The top of the pavilion is a structure with five backbones and six beasts. The top is paved with tubular tiles and the eaves are overhanging in the air. In the past, the second floor was used by the headmen of the ancient society for their office work. The layout was elegant, and famous people's calligraphy and paintings were displayed. There are three statues of Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi on the third floor, which are called "Three Emperors". Shennong on the left, holding tassel in his hand; Fuxi on the right, holding GAGs in his hand; Huangdi in the middle, sitting upright, with a realistic look. The ancient pavilion built in the Ming Dynasty has become a landmark of Pingcheng ancient town. Ancient shops near Shengge, dongxilaojie street to the north, yuanyangguan and other ancient buildings are still preserved in the town. However, with the accelerating process of urbanization, these rustic ancient buildings are gradually disappearing, which has attracted great attention of Pingcheng.