Pingyao is filled with interesting sites -- all within walking distance of each other. Our first stop was to the Ri Sheng Chang, the first private bank in China.  You can see Steve and the kids posing in front of the wax figures of the general and second managers of the bank. Banking was what really put Pingyao on the map during the Qing dynasty.  The local soil was just not good enough to farm, so trading and banking developed in its place.  The next stop was to a local martial arts museum -- it appears that banks needed some good bodyguards back then as well.  Samantha, Ritika and Nitan are showing off their Taiqi moves that they learned at the beginning of the year in the sparing ring at the back of the museum. We then headed on to two of the local temples.  The City God Temple was appropriately dedicated to the god of wealth, but also included all kinds of very basic images of punishments and rewards that go to the roots of many religions (e.g. you go to the nasty place with hideous demons if you steal or cheat and you go to the beautiful place of the gods if you are charitable and kind).  Of course, highlighted prominently above is Samantha in front of the the local Confucian Temple and Steve in front of one his favorite Neo-Confucian philosophers, Cheng Hao. Our last stop was the old County Government Building, where we were able to see a reenactment of a public trial.