Taiyuan and Pingyao Private Tour

Join this four-day tour to discover Taiyuan and Pingyao through their unique culture, lifestyle and food.

Arrive at Taiyuan Airport / Railway Station. Upon arrival, a representative will be waiting to greet you and accompany you on the transfer (换乘) to your hotel. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure in the city.

We will pick you up at about 8:30 for the drive to Pingyao. On the way we’ll stop to see Jinci Temple the most famous temple complex in Shanxi, located southwest of Taiyuan at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain. Afterwards we’ll continue to Qiao’s Family Compound, a traditional dwelling (住宅) in the north of China, known for its fine workmanship of wood, brick and stone carvings. After that we’ll continue driving to Pingyao. Check in at your hotel in the late afternoon and then spend the rest of the day at leisure in the ancient city.

Get ready to enjoy a half-day walking tour around the ancient walls of Pingyao. After lunch, we’ll go to visit Shuanglin Temple, which is famous for its collection of more than 2,000 decorated clay statues that are dated to the 12th-19th centuries. In the afternoon we’ll drive back to the hotel in Taiyuan, with an estimated arrival time of 18:00.

After breakfast at the hotel, prepare to check out of your room at the scheduled time and transfer to Taiyuan Airport / Railway Station for your onward or return flight / train.

There are a few benefits to users from the cloud besides giving you peace of mind if you lose your phone. You can access your data anytime, anywhere if you’re connected to the Internet. And you don’t have to worry about using up all of the storage on your hard drive, meaning you might not have to pay as much for a device that comes with a ton of storage.

You’ve probably heard of the two biggest names in the market, Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, and Microsoft Azure, IBM, Google and Alibaba are also big players when it comes to providing cloud services.

Many cloud services are based on a subscription pricing model. That means users pay, for example, a monthly fee for cloud services and they can scale up or down as needed. And cloud providers are cashing in. AWS takes up about 12 percent of Amazon’s quarterly sales, but it makes more than half of the company’s operating income.

Before we get too excited about the cloud, let’s take a step back and look at some of the risks. One obvious concern, if all of our data is online, what happens when the Internet goes down? That’s what happened in 2013 when an AWS power cut took down Instagram, Vine and Airbub.

Hacker attacks are another big risk with research showing around one-fifth of all files in the cloud contain sensitive data.

Finally, it can be difficult for consumers and businesses to switch between different cloud companies. I might have a hard time syncing my iCloud and Google Drive accounts. That can give some big companies that are already making big money on the cloud a lot of power over our data.

This year, the world celebrates a century of Disney magic, starting from a small animation studio to one of the most influential entertainment (娱乐) companies in the world.     16    .

In 1923, the Disney Brothers Studio was founded in California by Walter Disney and his brother Roy. In 1928, Disney launched his most symbolic creation, Mickey Mouse, with the release of Steamboat Willie. With his big round ears and cheerful personality, Mickey quickly became an instant hit.     17    . Disney continuously introduced innovation (创新) in animation. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 became the first full-length animated film. It established Disney as a pioneer in animation industry.

Disney’s dream extended beyond the world of animation, however. In 1955, Disneyland, the first theme park in the world, opened its doors in California. This sparked the creation of several more Disneyland parks worldwide.     18    . In the 1950s, Disney started his television production, launching two popular series The Mickey Mouse Club and The Wonderful World of Disney. These shows brought Disney magic directly into people’s homes as TV took off. The Walt Disney Company continues to create well-received movies, shows, and theme parks.     19    , like Elsa and Anna from Frozen and superheroes from the Marvel universe.

    20    . With countless memorable characters and timeless stories, it continues to bring joy to audiences of all ages around the world, ensuring its place as one of the most extraordinary and influential entertainment companies in history.

England is the     36     (big) of the four countries in the United Kingdom. Together with Scotland and Wales, these three countries are the island of Great Britain.

The official language of England is English, which     37     (speak) today by millions of people all over the world. Many students go to England from other countries     38     (study) the language and learn about the culture.     39     everyone speaks English, there are many different accents (口音) around the country. French     40     (be) the official language in England between 1066 and 1362,     41     is why there are many French words and expressions in English such as “bon voyage” for “have a good trip” or “bouquet” for “a bunch of flowers”.

English people love music.     42     the summer you can go to music festivals all over the country like those at Glastonbury, Leeds or Reading. Glastonbury is     43     five-day festival of music, dance, comedy, theatre and circus and around 175,000 people go. Many people stay at the festivals for a few     44     (day) and camp in tents. People listen to all types of music,     45     (especial) pop and rock. England has produced many international groups and singers like the Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Adele.