平遥古城

choi

Pingyao | In Banking’s Shadow; A former financial hub now begs for the patronage of tourists. Economist, Oct 18, 2014.
www.economist.com/news/china/216 ... sts-bankings-shadow

Quote: “The most-visited attraction in modern Pingyao [山西省晋中市 平遥县] is the Rishengchang Draft Bank 日升昌票号 [whose wooden plaque says 日昇昌記], which in 1823 became the first in China to issue cheques. The city lay on the path of a lucrative trade route. The bank’s manager spied a business opportunity when he saw silver shipments passing each other in opposite direction. He replaced pricey security, wagons and pack animals with a clearing house.

Note:
(a) “it was not the staff that did for the banks.”

do for sb/sth: "UK OLD-FASHIONED INFORMAL phrasal verb  to seriously damage something, or to seriously hurt or kill someone <Driving on those rough roads has really done for my car>”
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/do-for-sb-sth
(b) “A small, spruced-up central area [in Pingyao] thrums with visitors enjoying the curved rooftops, traditional façades, red lanterns and, strangely, Mao memorabilia.”

thrum (vi; imitative): "to sound with a monotonous hum "
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thrum