Ancient City Pingyao

This documentary photography series was created in the ancient city of Pingyao, Shanxi Province, China. The project focuses on recording the diverse “doors” found throughout the city — entrances from different historical periods, social classes, and architectural styles — as visual traces of everyday life and cultural memory.

Pingyao Ancient City is widely regarded as one of the best-preserved ancient county towns in China and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While China possesses a long and continuous history, many historical buildings and ancient urban spaces across the country have undergone repeated reconstruction, modernization, or restoration over time. As a result, few cities retain such a complete and continuous architectural fabric from earlier eras.

Within Pingyao, doors function not only as architectural elements, but also as symbols of social identity, historical transition, and the relationship between private and public space. Through these photographs, the project examines how vernacular architecture can preserve layers of political, economic, and cultural history embedded within everyday urban life.

Rather than documenting monumental landmarks, this series pays attention to ordinary details that are often overlooked. The doors — weathered by time, altered by generations of residents, and marked by changing historical conditions — become silent witnesses to the transformation of contemporary China while maintaining a connection to its past.