【国内文旅卷】世界文化遗产之平遥古城（中英双语）
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“平遥古城是目前中国保存得最为完好的古代城镇，建于14世纪，是汉民族城镇在明清时期的一个范例，其整体结构形式集中反映了5个世纪以来封建中国在城市规划和建筑风格方面的变迁。特别值得一提的是，这里的建筑同金融业关系密切。19世纪到20世纪初期，平遥曾是当时整个中国金融业的中心。”1997年平遥古城连同城外的双林寺与镇国寺一齐被列入世界文化遗产名录时，世界遗产委员会对其作出如上评价。
平遥古城是一座2700多年历史的文化名城，位于山西省中部，占地2.2平方公里，至今保存有城墙、街道、商铺、民居与庙宇等，成为明清时期中国县级城市保存最为完整的代表，亦是中国古代城市的原型。
作为中国汉民族的传统形式城池，平遥古城有着方正的格局。古城平面呈方形，四周筑有城墙，周长6000多米。城墙下开6道重门瓮城城门，城墙上建72座敌楼、3000多个垛口，取孔子有三千弟子、七十二贤人之意。城池以市楼为中心，由四大街、八小街、七十二巷组成。古城的布局对称，以南大街为中轴线，左城隍对应右县衙、左文庙对应右武庙、左道观对应右佛寺，充分体现出中国古代城市的营造规制，是研究中国古代传统城池的最佳范本。
而自19世纪中后期，平遥因晋商的崛起而一跃成为中国金融业最发达的城市之一，兴起的一大批票号形成了遍布全国的分号网络，更承担起了政府和银行的部分职能。其中创建于清道光年间的“日升昌”作为中国第一家票号，是其中规模最大、影响最深远的，曾一度操纵了十九世纪整个清王朝的金融业。
除此之外，位于古城之外的镇国寺与双林寺则浓缩了平遥历史更为悠久的人文景观。镇国寺的万佛殿建于五代，是国内现存最古老的木构建筑之一；殿内的彩塑同为建殿时的五代遗珍，颇具雄浑华美的唐风。双林寺则因现存元、明代彩塑达2000多尊，被誉为“中国古代彩塑艺术宝库”；其中释迦殿影壁墙后的一叶观音与千佛殿内的护法天神韦驮，均是明代彩塑中不可多得的精品。
“Ping Yao is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Han Chinese city, founded in the 14th century. Its urban fabric shows the evolution of architectural styles and town planning in Imperial China over five centuries. Of special interest are the imposing buildings associated with banking, for which Ping Yao was the major centre for the whole of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries.” This was the appraisal of the World Heritage Committee regarding the ancient city of Ping Yao,including the Shuanglin Temple and Zhenguo Temple outside the county seat of Ping Yao, when they were inscribed in the lists of World Heritage sitesin 1997.
The ancient city of Ping Yao, with a history that dates back some 2,700 years and is renowned for its well-preserved city walls, streets,shops, residences, and temples, is located in central Shanxi Province and covers an area of around 2.2 square kilometers. It is the best-preserved ancient Chinese county-level city from the Ming and Qing dynasties and is a prototype of ancient Chinese cities.
As a traditional Han Chinese city, the ancient city of Ping Yao has a regular square layout. The ancient city is square by a plane view, encircled with city walls with a perimeter of over 6,000 meters. The walls have six barbican gates, 72 watchtowers and more than 3,000 battlements, which symbolize Confucius’ 3,000 followers and 72 virtuous disciples. With the CityToweras its center, the ancient city comprises four avenues, eight side streets and seventy-two lanes. The city has a symmetrical layout with the South Avenue as the central axis, where the Temple of the Town God in the left city area matches the County Administrative Building in the right city area,the Confucian Temple in the left city area matches the Temple to General Guan Yu in the right city area, and the Taoist Temple in the left city area matches the Buddhist Temple in the right city area.All these reflect the construction rules of ancient Chinese cities and are the best examples for the study of traditional ancient Chinese cities.
Thanks to the rising of Shanxi businessmen, Ping Yao became one of the cities with the most developed financial industry in China during the mid- to late-19th century. A large number of exchange shops emerged and formed a draft bank network throughout China and assumed partial functions of the Qing Government and the bank. Among them was the “Rishengchang Exchange Shop” founded during the reign of Daoguang Emperor (1820-1850) in the Qing Dynasty and is considered the first exchange shop in China.It was the largest draft bank in scale and exerted the most far-reaching influences and once controlled the whole financial industry of the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century.
In addition, Shuanglin Temple and Zhenguo Temple, outside the county seat of Ping Yao, are the embodiment of the cultural landscapes that have longer histories than the city of Ping Yao. The10th century Ten Thousand Buddha Hall (Wan-fo Hall) of the Zhenguo Temple, built during the Five Dynasties, is one of the earliest wooden structures existing in China and the painted statues in the hall, remain as treasures from the Five Dynasties.The temple was built with the forceful and beautiful styles of the Tang Dynasty. Shuanglin Temple, known as the Treasure House of Ancient Chinese Painted Sculptures,is home to 2,000-plus painted clay statues from the Yuan Dynasty through the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the statues of a Single Petal Bodhisattva Guanyin (Guanyin sitting on a leaf) behind the screen wall of Shakya Hall and the Skanda (a devoted guardian of Buddhist monasteries who guards the Buddhist teachings) in the Thousand Buddha Hall (Qian-fo Hall)are rare masterpieces of painted statues of the Ming Dynasty.