Authorities in Shanxi province say that more than 15 million yuan will be put into renovation work on the city walls of Pingyao, a classical town known for its heritage and tourism.

Jia Zhongzhao, head of the cultural heritage administration of the county with the same name as the town, explained that, certain parts of the ancient city walls were reworked in 2012, but some unsafe places are still in need of repairs.

The walls in the older part of the town, which are more than 6,000 meters long and cover a 2.25-square-kilometer area, are the most complete extant city walls dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). So, the city is a famous historical and cultural city in Shanxi, with a history that actually goes back at least 2,700 years, and its older part was added to the World Heritage List, in December 1997.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Roger Bradshaw