Qixian is located in the central part of the
Jinzhong Basin, on the east bank of the Fenhe River, and at the northern
piedmont of Taiyue Mountain. The county seat of Qixian is 57 kilometers from
Taiyuan City. The Datong-Puzhou Railway cuts through Qixian, and five national
and provincial level roads meet here, making the county an important
transportation pivot in Shanxi Province. For the fertile land, plenty of water
resources and abundant products, the county is reputed as Golden
Jixian.
First built in the Taihe reign (477-499)
of Emperor Xiaoyi in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), Qixian has a history
of more than 1,500 years. The county draws wide attention from all walks of
life with its compact layout and refined architectural craftsmanship. In
recent years, many shoooting staffs of TV and film came here to screen outer door scenes.
Higher education institutes like the Tongji University in Shanghai and Shanghe
Urban Construction College took to streets and residential houses in Qixian
that reflect the architectural style of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing
(1644-1911) dynasties as their samples in teaching, and sent teachers and
students to do on-the-spot researches and study.
The Qixian ancient city is 850 meters long
from east to west, and 700 meters long from south to north with a perimeter of 3
kilometers. Since the whole city is shaped like a black gauze cap worn by
ancient officials in China, Qixian is also known as the Black Gauze Cap City. In
ancient times, the city wall was all built of bricks and had a moat surrounding
it. Due to wars and weathering, the city wall was long gone, but the buildings
inside the wall are still well preserved.
The ancient city combines ancient streets
and alleys, ancient temples, ancient stores and ancient residential houses into
an integral whole, forming a magnificent, complete ancient building complex, and
featuring a compact layout. It is the historical witness of Qixian's commercial
prosperity in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, and also rare
real object materials for the research into Chinese ancient county structure,
street planning and residential house construction and layout of commercial
outlets.
Qixian was proclaimed as a national level
historical and cultural city by the State Council in January
1994.