Tian Yuan Kui Hotel

The beautiful city of Pingyao hasn’t changed much during the last century. The centre (which is still lined with original city walls and where cars are not allowed!) is a trip back in time, and the lovely Tian Yuan Kui Hotel is a perfect place to stay in order to fully experience Pingyao.
The hotel has a handsome courtyard, surrounded by rooms that differ in size and price. Fact is that they all have (replicated) details of the Qing period. Smaller rooms have a (again replicated) kang bed, larger rooms have very nice wooden imperial beds.
The rooms are not cheap, but worth every penny. While I was staying here (the summer of 2005) Pingyao had recently gained a lot of hotels, and all these new hotels had air conditioning. The power network of the small town was not used to this high demand, so it was not unusual that there would be a black-out at least once a day. Quite inconvenient if you’re taking a shower at that precise moment…
The Tian Yuan Kui Hotel stands out not just for its lovely courtyard and atmospheric rooms, the staff is also wonderful, as is the restaurant. The restaurant is very laid-back and had a backpack character with nice and very affordable meals. There are also a few computers available for Internet-use.
The famous movie ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ was filmed in this region and, on request, you can watch this film in the restaurant. It is spoken in Chinese, but has English subtitles.