Qikou Ancient Town

Qikou grew because the Yellow River becomes unnavigable just downstream, so cargo coming from the northwest had to be unloaded here and carried onward by camel and mule, making the town a major transfer point in the Ming and Qing with warehouses, guild halls and merchant houses. When rail and road took the traffic, the town emptied and stopped changing, leaving stone-fronted warehouses along the river and yaodong cave dwellings cut into the loess terraces above, stacked in layers up the hillside. Restoration has been light, so the town looks worn rather than polished. The nearby Lijiashan village, higher on the slope, is a dense stack of cave houses.

What to look for

• The stone warehouses - Ming and Qing trading buildings along the river.
• The cave dwellings - yaodong cut into loess terraces up the hillside.
• Lijiashan village - a stacked cave-house settlement above the town.
• The Yellow River - the working river that made and unmade the port.

When to go

April to June and September to October; western Shanxi is bitterly cold in winter and hot in midsummer. Autumn light on the loess is the reason many photographers come. Facilities are basic year-round.

What to expect

Accommodation is simple guesthouse rooms in cave dwellings, often with shared washing and limited heating. The town is genuinely run down in places, which is the appeal for some and a shock for others. Public transport is poor and a car helps considerably.

Nearby

Lijiashan is a short walk uphill; Lüliang lies east.