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If you plan your Shanxi tour or Pingyao tour in particular, you should not miss a side trip to the ancient Qikou Town ( or Qikou Zhen). Qikou Zhen is an ancient port town on the Yellow River, about 230km southwest of Taiyuan and 180km west of Pingyao.

Qikou Town is a rarity of well-preserved ancient town in the style of Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368 – 1911). Unlike the noisy and a bit commercialized ancient Pingyao City, Qikou has kept much of its original outlook, mainly owing to its remoteness and inaccessibility.

“Qi” in Chinese literally means “sand and rock in water”. “Qikou” is a place where the massive Yellow River suddenly narrows its riverbed to 80 meters wide with submerged sand and rocks from the upper 500 meters wide riverbed, a bottleneck which challenged the waterway transportation on the Yellow River.

The Yellow River used to be an efficient and important waterway transportation linking Northwest China (Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi…） and Northern and Southern China during the Ming and Qing dynasties ( 1368 – 1911 ) before the advent of highways, trains and flights.

Qikou flurished in Ming and Qing dynasties because the goods on the water transportation on the Yellow River had to be carried on to the land on Qikou. Qikou later became a busy port town with lots of wharfs bringing numerous visitors and businessmen. It served as a trading port and a trading market as well.

At its heyday, sometimes hundreds of boats berthed everyday. From the Northwest China, cereals, oils, salt, furs, medicines and many other products were carried to Qikou before they were transported overland by horse and camel to other parts of China.

Vice versa, from central China, silk, tea, cigarettes and liquor were transported to Qikou before they were carried on to the boats heading to the northwest China. Hundreds of dock hands worked at the port town and hundreds of camels horses carried goods on the route,which brought prosperity to the port town of Qikou. It remained a trading centre until the 1940s.

How to get there
1. Take the 10:00 am long-distance bus from Taiyuan West Bus Station directly to Qikou Town, about 5 hours.
2. Take buses from Taiyuan West Bus Station to Lishi, from Lishi connect the buses to Qikou
3. Take the buses from Pingyao Bus Station to Lishi, then from Lishi to Qikou.
Suggested accommodation: Qikou Guesthouse Tel: 0358 – 4466188

Qikou Town viewed from Lijianshan Hill.  The town is on the west bank of the Yellow River and on its south is Qiushui River,  a branch of the Yellow River.

Now please follow me to Qikou Town.

The terraced houses in the town carved into the hillside on the bank of the Yellow River.  The river front west street, the middle street and the east street form the main streets in the town, plus 13 narrow lanes on the slopes, connecting all the houses in the town.

The west street on the bank of the Yellow River was once teemed with piers, restaurants, inns and granaries.  Today you could see the evocative stone houses and cobbled pathway, telling us the past glory.

The cobbled pathway brings you to the riverside west street in the town.

 

There used to be numerous piers below the high west streets rife with inns, restaurants and granaries.

 

The local residents still keep their old ways of doing things.

 

The middle street was once the most prosperous commercial street rife with restaurants, stores and money shops.

The Middle Street in Qikou

The former Xiang Tobacco Company

It is a tourist shoulder season, not much business on the street.

The narrow lanes connect all the houses on the hillside.

The narrow alley links the west street and the middle street.

 

Behind the three main streets in the town, higher on the platform is the Black Dragon Temple.  From the Ming Taoist Temple, people can have a panoramic view of the Yellow River, Qiushui River, the town and Lijiashan. A few minutes hike brings you to the temple.

The narrow riverbed of the Yellow River seen from the high terrace of the temple

The sun is setting over the ancient town of Qikou.

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Lijiashan Village

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