China Daily promotes tourism?

See this recent article, all nice but no foreigners allowed in Pingyao…
“Tourism gets back on track” 16 October 2020
Discover Shanxi by China Daily
http://sx.people.com.cn/n2/2020/1016/c189152-34354367.html

“Pingyao, in central Shanxi and one of the top tourist destinations in the province, is known for its ancient city, old streets and time-honored firms established by the famed Shanxi merchants centuries ago. The county of Pingyao welcomed more than 300,000 visits during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays on Oct 1-8. The figure ranks it first among all tourist attractions in Shanxi province. Shanxi province received more than 52 million visits during the period and netted a tourism revenue of 31.64 billion yuan ($4.69 billion), according to the Shanxi Culture and Tourism Department. The department’s officials said the figures－almost the same as last year－show that local tourism has recovered from the negative effects of the COVID-19 outbreak that started earlier this year.”

Pingyao is a key tourist destination in Shanxi

I had the pleasure to visit it in June 2018 before the virus. A very interesting place.

I still need to go through the many pictures I took and post some.

Pingyao is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Han Chinese city, founded in the 14th century. Pingyao county was recently listed among the country’s top 100 counties in terms of tourism strength in 2020.

See: http://shanxi.chinadaily.com.cn/pingyao/

The reality

My wife arrived in Pingyao this month to visit, together with Chinese friends.
They went to several hotels and all said, sorry. no foreigners allowed in Pingyao. Call to police did not solve anything.
They finally managed to enter with their car the old city. Found a small basic hotel where my wife said, sorry I lost my Chinese ID (she is Chinese with a Belgian passport). So she managed to stay the night (it was a very poor “hotel”).

I tried to contact the Shanxi and Pingyao government to complain. As always, either the contact details are wrong or no answer:

Shanxi Pingyao – Contact Us – Updated:2013-07-05 10:12 – Pingyao Tourism Bureau
Email: sxpyly@yahoo.com.cn (does not work!)
and
Shanxi government contact: zgsxwz@shanxi.gov.cn
Email sent, no answer.

Welcome to China! OK, foreigners not always welcome.