Most international travelers going to Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān) know exactly why they’re there. The Terracotta Warriors (兵马俑, Bīngmǎyǒng). Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng). The ancient city walls. The Muslim Quarter (回民街, Huímín Jiē). But Dad had another question. What if we kept going? Not to another blockbuster attraction. Not to another city everybody already knows. But farther into the history that Xi’an had started opening for us. That’s how Dad and Elaine ended up in: Linfen (临汾, Línfén) in southern Shanxi (山西, Shānxī). And here’s the surprise. Linfen isn’t actually very far from Xi’an. A direct train can take roughly 1 hour 40 minutes from Xi’an North Railway Station (西安北站, Xī’ān Běizhàn) to Linfen West Railway Station (临汾西站, Línfén Xīzhàn). The example Dad checked was: Xi’an North (西安北站, Xī’ān Běizhàn)10:27↓Linfen West (临汾西站, Línfén Xīzhàn)12:07 1 hour 40 minutes CNY 106 Train schedules and fares change, of course — check your actual travel date. But look at the geography of the decision. You can leave Xi’an after breakfast… and be in Linfen around lunchtime. So Why Bother? Because Xi’an introduces you to one of the biggest turning points in Chinese history: 221 BCE. Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng) unifies China. Linfen asks a completely different question: What came before that? And then it keeps going backwards. Before Qin (秦, Qín). ↓ the Warring States period (战国时期, Zhànguó Shíqī) ↓ the State of Jin (晋国, Jìn Guó) ↓ the Zhou dynasty (周朝, Zhōucháo) ↓ Shang (商, Shāng) ↓ and eventually more than 4,000 years back to: Taosi (陶寺, Táosì). An enormous archaeological settlement. Elite burials. Jade. Ritual music. Astronomical observation. And a tantalising connection with the ancient traditions surrounding: Yao (尧, Yáo). That’s why Dad came. Xi’an showed us the China that became unified. Linfen made us ask what existed before it. But Elaine had a more immediate concern. Breakfast. Good Morning from Linfen (临汾, Línfén) Forget 4,000 years of history for a minute. Come outside with us. 🎥 Follow Elaine to Breakfast Elaine crosses a normal Linfen street. Cars pass. Electric scooters weave through the traffic. People are already sitting outside at little tables. There’s porridge. Eggs. Freshly fried dough. This isn’t a tourist food street. It’s just breakfast in Linfen. And that’s exactly why we want you to see it before we take you into the museum. Linfen isn’t an archaeological site. It’s a living Chinese city sitting on top of layer after layer of history. Wait… Those Are Youtiao (油条, Yóutiáo)? Elaine walks toward a shop selling: 油条Yóutiáo — fried dough. Except these didn’t look quite like the youtiao (油条, Yóutiáo) Dad was used to seeing. They were shorter. single than double. Very tempting. Elaine asks: 现在有油条吗？Xiànzài yǒu yóutiáo ma? “Do you have youtiao now?” Then: 可以带走吗？Kěyǐ dàizǒu ma? “Can we take it away?” This is another reason Dad likes traveling beyond China’s headline destinations. You don’t necessarily get another Terracotta Army. You get something else. Ordinary China. And then, sometimes only a few kilometres away… extraordinary China. 🐇 After breakfast, Dad and Elaine went to Linfen Museum (临汾博物馆, Línfén Bówùguǎn). That’s when we discovered just how deep the rabbit hole went. Linfen Museum (临汾博物馆, Línfén Bówùguǎn) — Our Coat Rack for 4,000 Years of Chinese History After breakfast, Dad and Elaine went to Linfen Museum (临汾博物馆, Línfén Bówùguǎn). [PHOTO — Dad & Elaine outside Linfen Museum] If you’re coming to Linfen (临汾, Línfén) for the first time, we’d strongly recommend doing the same. Not because you need to become an expert in Chinese history. Quite the opposite. The museum makes everything else easier to understand. Because Linfen has a problem. It has too much history. Yao (尧, Yáo). Taosi (陶寺, Táosì). Pingyang (平阳, Píngyáng). The State of Jin (晋国, Jìn Guó). The State of Han (韩国, Hán Guó). Different names. Different periods. Sometimes separated by thousands of years. So before we go any deeper, here’s Dad’s coat rack. The Only Timeline You Need If you’ve just come from Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān), use Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng) as your anchor. You already know: 221 BCE — Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng) unifies the competing states. Now walk backwards: Qin unification (秦统一, Qín Tǒngyī) — 221 BCE↑Warring States period (战国时期, Zhànguó Shíqī) — 475–221 BCE↑Spring and Autumn period (春秋时期, Chūnqiū Shíqī) — 770–476 BCE↑Western Zhou dynasty (西周, Xī Zhōu) — 1046–771 BCE↑Shang dynasty (商朝, Shāngcháo) — c. 1600–1046 BCE↑Xia dynasty (夏朝, Xiàcháo) — traditionally before Shang↑Taosi (陶寺, Táosì) — c. 2300–1900 BCE Don’t memorise it. Just remember: Qin is our handrail. Most of what we’re about to discover in Linfen happened before Qin. Wait — Where Did “Pingyang” (平阳, Píngyáng) Come From? One of the first museum panels Dad photographed was titled: PINGYANG AND ITS LONG HISTORY [PHOTO — Pingyang and Its Long History panel] An international traveler could reasonably ask: “What’s Pingyang? I thought we were in Linfen.” We are. Pingyang (平阳, Píngyáng) is an important historical name associated with this area. Chinese cities, counties, prefectures and administrative boundaries changed names repeatedly over the centuries. So the place written in an ancient history book doesn’t necessarily have the same name you’ll type into a railway app today. For our journey, keep it simple: Modern map → Linfen (临汾, Línfén) Ancient history → watch for Pingyang (平阳, Píngyáng) And Pingyang immediately led Dad to another character: 晋 Jìn Why Does Shanxi (山西, Shānxī) Still Use 晋 (Jìn)? Today, 晋 (Jìn) is the common one-character abbreviation for Shanxi (山西, Shānxī). You’ll even see it on vehicle licence plates. But the name goes back more than 2,500 years to the: State of Jin (晋国, Jìn Guó). During the Zhou dynasty (周朝, Zhōucháo), don’t imagine China as today’s single country divided into provinces. Think instead of a wider Zhou political order containing numerous hereditary states. They had rulers. Armies. Territories. Alliances. And plenty of wars. One of the most powerful became the State of Jin (晋国, Jìn Guó). By the Spring and Autumn period (春秋时期, Chūnqiū Shíqī),

We came to Linfen (临汾, Línfén) following a question. What was China like before Qin? That question had already taken Dad and Elaine more than 4,000 years back at Taosi (陶寺, Táosì). But in Linfen (临汾, Línfén), another name kept appearing. Yao (尧, Yáo). So we went to the place where Linfen has remembered him for generations: Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào). But before we explain who Yao was, come inside with us. 🎥 Walk Into Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào) With Elaine Elaine went ahead. Follow her. The first thing that struck us was the scale of the approach. A long ceremonial pathway stretched ahead. Stone carvings ran along the central axis. Red banners and ribbons added flashes of colour. Old trees rose around the temple grounds. And farther ahead, traditional roofs and gateways appeared one behind another. You don’t need to know anything about Yao (尧, Yáo) yet. Just look. This is how we first experienced the place. And as we walked farther in, something else became clear. Yao (尧, Yáo) isn’t just the name of somebody commemorated inside an old temple. His name is still embedded in the identity of the city around it. Linfen (临汾, Línfén) Is Yaodu (尧都, Yáodū) The central urban district of modern Linfen (临汾, Línfén) is called: Yaodu District (尧都区, Yáodū Qū). Break that name apart: 尧 (Yáo) = Yao都 (dū) = capital So Yaodu (尧都, Yáodū) literally means: “Yao’s Capital.” For an international traveler, that’s an easy detail to miss. But once you notice it, Linfen begins to look different. The city isn’t simply preserving a temple dedicated to an ancient ruler. It still carries the memory of that ruler in its own modern geography. And outside Linfen, at Taosi (陶寺, Táosì), we had already encountered archaeological discoveries from roughly the same distant world traditionally associated with Yao (尧, Yáo). Archaeology on one side. Cultural memory on the other. And Dad and Elaine were now walking right into the middle of them. The temple introduction connects Yao (尧, Yáo) with ancient Pingyang (平阳, Píngyáng), the historical name associated with this area. But Dad still wasn’t ready to give Elaine the history lesson. There was more to see first. Ahead of us was the monumental heart of the temple complex. So we kept walking. → Next: Deeper Into Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào) — and the building that stopped us in our tracks. Deeper Into Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào) — Then Wufeng Tower Appeared We kept following the central path. Elaine walked ahead while Dad followed with the camera. The deeper we went, the more ceremonial the approach became. The pathway pulled us forward between old trees and red banners, toward a much larger building rising ahead. This was Wufeng Tower (五凤楼, Wǔfèng Lóu) — the Five Phoenixes Tower. 🎥 Keep Walking With Elaine This time, watch what happens as we get closer. The building gradually takes over the view. [PHOTO — full frontal view of Wufeng Tower] This was one of those places where photographs don’t quite prepare you for the approach. The tower sits elevated above the courtyard, with layers of traditional tiled roofs, red columns, painted wooden brackets and a dark upper gallery stretching across the façade. But Dad’s eyes were also drawn downward. Right beneath our feet was another story. “China’s First Dragon” Running up the centre of the stone approach was a long carved dragon. At its base were five characters: 中华第一龙Zhōnghuá Dìyī Lóng “China’s First Dragon.” [PHOTO — 中华第一龙 stone dragon approach] That name immediately caught Dad’s attention. Because we had just encountered something remarkably similar elsewhere in Linfen. At Linfen Museum (临汾博物馆, Línfén Bówùguǎn), Dad had seen a painted dragon on pottery excavated from Taosi (陶寺, Táosì) — an archaeological culture dating back more than 4,000 years. Here at Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào), the dragon had become part of the ceremonial landscape. Two very different places. One archaeological. One commemorative. But once again, Taosi (陶寺, Táosì) and the world of Yao (尧, Yáo) seemed to be following us around Linfen (临汾, Línfén). Don’t Rush Through Wufeng Tower (五凤楼, Wǔfèng Lóu) At the top of the steps stood a large incense burner. Stone guardian lions flanked the approach. Above us were painted beams, brackets and calligraphy. Red ribbons appeared everywhere — tied by modern visitors inside a place devoted to memories from China’s distant past. [PHOTO — closer architectural/detail view] This is why we’d give Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào) some time. Don’t just photograph the main building and move on. Look down. Look up. Read the characters. Watch what local visitors are doing. The interesting part isn’t only the architecture. It’s seeing how an ancient story is still being remembered in a living place. And we still haven’t properly explained who Yao (尧, Yáo) was. That was deliberate. We wanted you to see what Dad and Elaine saw first. Now that you’ve walked in with us, it’s time for Dad to explain why he brought Elaine here. Dad Explains Why Yao Temple (尧庙, Yáomiào) Matters After walking through the temple with Elaine, Dad stopped to explain why we’d come. 🎥 Dad’s Explanation — Right Here at Yao Temple Yao (尧, Yáo) belongs to the distant world of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (三皇五帝, Sānhuáng Wǔdì) — the legendary sage-rulers placed before China’s traditional dynastic history. But what interested Dad wasn’t simply how old the story was. It was why Yao was still being remembered. Yao (尧, Yáo) became an ideal of good rulership — associated with virtue, concern for the people, ordering the calendar and choosing the worthy Shun (舜, Shùn) as his successor. That makes him very different from the ruler we’d encountered in Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān). Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng) asks us to think about power and unification. Yao (尧, Yáo) asks us to think about what Chinese tradition believed a good ruler should be. The Temple Is Ancient — But Not 4,000 Years Old Dad also points out an important distinction. The