Pingyao

Pingyao is a tiny walled city between Xian and Beijing. It was freezing when we were there. I think the temperature dropped to -10.

I met this boy at the Taoist temple which I wandered into while trying to warm up.
We had a hand conversation and he did a kind of blessing on my head, I think.

There was a funeral procession in the main street. At first I didn't know what it was and took a lot of photos, including of the family members.
But I felt awful when I realised and deleted them all.
These ones I kept as they are of the pall bearers who aren't family members.
In fact a couple of them dropped one side of the casket and burst out laughing.

Apparently the purple means that someone has died in the family.
I think they keep it on the walls for 1 year. There were a lot of purple banners in Pingyao.

It was so cold that this goldfish froze in the pond.