Since Pingyao was a merchant city, some merchants became fabulously wealthy. The most wealthy built compounds just for their families to live in outside of Pingyao. These compounds (and they are enormous) are now hot tourist attractions. The biggest one is the Wang compound, with over 123 courtyards. We visited a “smaller” one, with just 26 courtyards. The Qiao compound may not be as large as the Wang compound, but it was where Raise the Red Lantern was filmed. And I like that movie.

We hired a driver who took us to the Qiao compound. The place is so big that we could not help but think how inconvenient it would be to live there. The main gate was a fifteen minute walk from the compound itself. Just that alone would drive me crazy. The compound is divided into six main courtyards, each of which have several smaller courtyards. Courtyard five is where Raise the Red Lantern was filmed. It wasn’t labeled as such, but the throngs of tourists taking pictures in it told us all we needed to know.

Qiao

Qiao compound garden

While a nice tourist attraction, Cindy and I both felt that the place had a cold, unwelcome feeling. Maybe it was the grey. Or maybe it was because we can’t disassociate it from Raise the Red Lantern, which is about a place being cold and unwelcome. In the end, nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

Our driver then took us to another old street from another city. It was nice, but after Pingyao I’ve become a snob for old-school Chinese towns. The final stop for the day was the Zhenguo Temple complex. It was built in the 10th century. That makes it awesome. When we arrived, there were only three other people there. That makes it even more awesome.

Zhenguo Temple complex

Cool shadow, bro

With so few people, the temple actually felt the way it should–peaceful. All five visitors were completely silent as we walked around the temple and admired the 1000 year old murals and statues. When we left, our driver told us how special he thinks the place is and that he’s glad we were able to experience it without too many people.

Since we are now on our own, we were able to make new friends. Our driver told us that our hostel is popular with the French. Lo and behold, when we returned we met a French woman sitting in the courtyard. Her name was Marine and she’s a child psychologist from France, now living in Switzerland. We swapped travel tales and went to dinner with two others who arrived at the hostel.

Dinner

After dinner we walked around town a bit and returned to the hostel for courtyard beers. Our first encounter with traveling ethics surfaced when one individual went to his room and returned with his favorite souvenir–a piece of the Great Wall. He explained that it was already on the ground and that he did not break it off the wall. Like that really matters. IT’S A PIECE OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. LA PARED GRANDE. The rest of us were a little aghast but weren’t sure exactly what to say. The unspoken strategy seemed to be to sarcastically point out that he was being a dick. A Chinese woman at the table kept covering the piece with her hands and suggesting that it should not be taken from China.

Take note. When you come to China, it is not OK to leave with a piece of the Great Wall.