Yuxian

This small town is located in Western Hebei, just north of Laiyuan over a beautiful mountain road. Descending to the plain upon which Yuxian sits, a familiar landscape of dusty roads and ugly buildings returns. After ugly Laiyuan, I was not expecting much from Yuxian, the dusty town that greeted me at the bus station seemed to reinforce my expectations. However, once taken into the old town, I discovered that hidden behind the ugly new town outside, Yuxian still had an interesting old town.

I researched Yuxian prior to coming as I did the rest of my off-the-beaten track destinations. I have a Chinese Hebei travel book which I looked at, and I also consulted photos that people had uploaded to Google Earth. The most interesting site that Yuxian had to offer was called the Jade Emperor Pavillion (玉皇阁). When I asked the three-wheel car driver to take me there from the bus station, he didn’t even know where it was, which tells you how many people visit the place. It was up a dusty alley fringed with old hutongs, built into the old city wall. Dating from the 14th century, it is a two story pavilion and a few outbuildings. I’m not sure what the purpose was, but it seems that it was some sort of temple. I did encounter two other tourists there, both of them from Beijing and about to return.

I spent the rest of my time in Yuxian’s old town walking around to various points of interest. A temple near the pavilion was closed, but I did get to see the drum tower, a pagoda surrounded by hutongs and a temple that had been converted into a museum. Besides these key sites, I also enjoyed the old architecture of Yuxian. I truly hope that the local government tries to preserve what they have. If done correctly, I could see Yuxian becoming a successful site like Pingyao, although it would take at least ten years to develop the requisite infrastructure to accomplish this.

Returning to the bus station, I was incredibly surprised to see a group of four foreigners! Never did I expect to see foreigners in an isolated place like Yuxian. It turns out they were doing a Chinese immersion summer program and had come here as part of their studies. Yuxian truly surprised me, and I just hope that other people might also discover its hidden charms.