Xietongqing Unincorporated Bank Museum, Shanxi, China

4Chris P 5:00 PM Jun 3, 2019

Worth a short visit
The interesting thing for me about this bank and made it different from the other banks, was the access to the underground vault. The tickets are included in the City Ticket and I had to look for the turnstiles to show me it was a Museum, as all the signs outside are all in Chinese.

5TravelingCat22 5:00 PM Jan 12, 2019

The best, most complete bank to visit
Founded in 1856 and closed in 1913, this one is my favorite and I found it by chance because it is not on the city map but your city ticket allows you inside. Don't miss the vaulted basements. After a few rooms with life-size mannequins in period furniture, some points are explained using small scenes in the window where the characters are not more than 10cm. The rules for becoming an employee of this bank were strict; the poor, the illiterate, the elderly, and especially those whose family members had had "bad habits" over three generations, were not eligible for a job. However, the rules were broken for Zhaodepu, a poor man over 30 (so old!) Whose grandfather was drugged. He was so talented that he was hired. In 1900, Empress Cixi en route to Xi'an stopped at Ping Yao and was received in Zhaodepu's house. The latter had since died, but his son received him and to gain his good graces, gave him 240,000 silver liang more than the other banks in the city. She talked about her and their business prospered.