Located in Lixian County of the Aba Prefecture, Taoping has long been seen as a "living fossil" of the past prosperity of the Qiang People, whose earliest records can be found in the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Yin Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago.

However, as tourism has become hot since 1997, a number of facilities have been built to attract visitors, damaging the village's original landscapes.

To better protect its history and culture, the local government has decided to spend 60 million yuan (US$7.23 million) to remove unnecessary structures inside the ancient village.

Since March, some 70 business premises including hotels, restaurants and grocery stores have been moved out and six illegally built cement buildings demolished.

Established in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD) the village is famed for an ancient castle built with only mud and stone chips showing the ethnic group's skillful application of mathematics and geometry in the past.

Outside the village stand eight gates which represent the Eight Diagrams and local people's primitive understanding of the universe.

Every household linked by zigzagging tunnels, which, inhabitants believe, were made to move supplies and arrange ambushes in times of war or external intrusion.

There are two nine-story blockhouses known by the locals as "landmark buildings". With a height of 30 meters, the block houses have survived frequent earthquakes and erosion.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2003)