中国镖局

Great fun with all the old style weapons. You could pick them up and have a go. It was free for us doing that when we were there just after christmas time, I think in the busy season, you might get charged though.

I loved learning about these early armed escort agencies. Wow, these guys knew how to handle their weapons. They guarded the valuables by their bedsides, commonly put down a hole in the ground.

You get access to this via a 3 day ticket from several tourist offices within Pingyao Ancient City (90yuan during quiet times, 120yaun during peak tourist periods). Just be aware that you can only visit the site once over those three days so you can't return if you enjoy something.There is almost no english explanation of anything and it's cold, dusty and poorly maintained inside. I probably ended up spending 10-15 minutes in here before leaving and finding something else to look at.If you could read the Chinese descriptions, it may have been worth it, but otherwise I wouldn't bother.

这里有一些我们在中国见过的最好玩的英语翻译。我们是在一大早去的,博物馆很安静,这样我们可以参观的很快。亮点是武器与家具展示。如果你有半个小时的时间的话,可以去看看。

中国镖局位于平遥古城的明清一条街上，现在改成了中国镖局博物馆。这里有镖箱、镖车等的展示之外，还有兵器的展示和武术门派的发展介绍等，我以为武林或江湖是武侠小说里的虚构世界，没有想到有实体的概念。

Da das Bankenwesen in China erst im 19. Jahrhundert eingeführt wurde, gab es lange Zeit Geldtransporte, die gerne Ziel von Überfällen wurden. Deshalb etablierte sich in Pingyao eine Security Industrie. Bewaffnete Kung-Fu-Experten begleiteten die Transporte und schreckten Räuber ab. Das kleine Museum dokumentiert diese Geschichte (leider überwiegend in chinesischer Sprache). In historischen Räumen zeigt es die Bilder der alten Kung-Fu-Meiser und eine Auwahl furchterregender Waffen. Auf den ehemaligen Übungsplatz kann man diese Waffen auch selbst in die Hand nehmen und sich damit fotographieren lassen. Ist ganz interessant und passt zur Geschichte der alten Stadt und der 1. Bank Chinas.

我们开车顺利到达平遥古城！到现在走了日升昌票号，中国镖局，平遥古居。很有feel哦。就是脸被冻得红通通。-6度，可以！

The emerging of Escort Agency was inspired by the development of commerce. It helps review the history knowledge learnt in high school.

It is a wonderful building with plenty of flags, weapons, chests, techniques to defend and some carriages as well as many interesting documents explaining the routes that needed to be escorted to defend rich people and valuable cargo. You can even pick some of the weapons and see how heavy they were! There are 3 escort agencies that you can visit in the town (that were aming the first in China) all with very interesting displays. If you visit at least two of them, you will get a very good idea of their use. Very very interesting!

We weren't sure what to expect....escort agents can have various meanings! However, this was totally above board, and showed the background of how the money from which Pingyao derived it's wealth was transported safely, using the escort agents to secure it in transport. A precursor of G4S or Securicor, I suppose.