one of just 27 designated world heritage sites in china, pingyao, with a history of over 2,700 years has the distinction of being the best preserved of china's ancient walled cities.

life within the wall is a mix of squalor, and the touts who try to make a living from the trickle of tourists who make their way from beijing, some 300 miles away, on weekends.

this is a series of pictures made there in the september of 2002.

how soon before such sights are only confined to photographs?

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