The proud history of the 'azure dragon town' endures

A blockhouse perches on themain road of Qinglong town. [Photos By Du Xiaoguang / For China Daily]

Qinglong town, or "azure dragon town", 10 kilometers north of Taiyuan in Shanxi, used to be a village surrounded by sweet wormwoods sitting at the main road connecting Shanxi province, a historical economic powerhouse, with Inner Mongolia, since early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) .

The village prospered with the booming of a big family surnamed Wang from early Qing Dynasty, when an uprising farmers' troop led by Li Zicheng deposited some military supplies at the warehouse of Wang's home as they fled from Beijing.

Li said that if they did not come back in three years, those materials left behind would belong to the Wang family. Three years later, after the Wangs heard that Li had died in southern China, they opened the warehouse, and found it filled with gold and silver.

Using the wealth, the Wang family took their business in medicine and food nationwide. The village was expanded along the official road and became a compound serving as living quarters for local squires and farmers, a regional commercial and trade center, and a military pass.

In 1900, the Empress Dowager Cixi fled from Beijing with the Emperor Guangxu to escape the invading Western colonial armies. They received a warm welcome at Wang's home.

In the remaining 11 years of the Qing Dynasty, the village had preferential treatment from the royal family in return.

The Wang family's business declined in the warlord era after 1920s as China's trade diverted from the continent to the sea. The family left the village for local farmers. Although it remained a local trade center, its influence out of Taiyuan disappeared quickly.

The Yangqu county government rebuilt the village from about five years ago to make it a tourist spot. The project made good use of the old bricks and tiles.

The village now looks more like a small ancient city, encircled by high walls and ramparts on a mountain slope with the ancient road running through it from north to south.

After entering the main gate at the south of the village along the road, you can find a big temple where locals worship the gods of military, wealth and health on the right, and a performance stage on the left.

In the middle of the village are also two other temples. On the east of the road is a temple for scholars and on the west is a temple for military strategists.

Local villagers still pray in the three temples.