Originally owned by Qiao Zhiyong during the Qing dynasty, the Qiao Family Mansion was our first stop on the way to Taiyuan. This massive compound is composed of numerous courtyards and hundreds of rooms including study rooms and school buildings, bedrooms for multiple different people of many different statuses, kitchens, and more. The architecture and furnishings are representative of the Qing dynasty time period. Some rooms were converted to small museums displaying relics for this period of time.

 

We also stopped at the Jinci Temple which featured a pagoda, halls, gardens, pavilions, a longevity fountain, and more. The primary focus of this compound is on the gardens. This temple has roots back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, roughly 1046 B.C. to 711 B.C. and was built to honor King Chen's younger brother, Yu, following his death.