Sited in Pingyao County, Shanxi Province, the city began to be built in the period of King Xuanwang of the Western Zhou Dynasty (BC 827 to 782), and in the third year of the Hongwu Period of the Ming Dynasty the city was built into a square shape with a wall height of 12m and a circumference of 6.4km in an area of 2.25km2; and has city defending facilities such as jar walls, battlements, arrow towers and turrets, as well as attached buildings such as Kuixing (God of Literature) Tower, Dianjiang (Calling the Muster Roll of Officers) Terrace and Temple of Lord Guan. Repaired and renovated in the two dynasties of Ming and Qing, it still preserves its early Ming formal system and structure. The streets, market towers and shops inside the city wall are still retained in their original formal system, which provides material objects for the studying of the city construction system in the Ming Dynasty. In 1997 it was included in the “World Cultural Heritage List”.