Before leaving Beijing for Pingyao, the hotel which booked our train tickets claimed not to have heard of it (this was a Chinese hotel, and no, my pronunciation was fine). It turned out that they knew of Pingyao, but only as a destination for Chinese tourists. They did not believe that we would want to go there, and that, yes, I must have mispronounced whereever it was we wanted to go. Having said all that, Pingyao is a 'Mecca' for Chinese tourists, although there was a handful of Western tourists there, as well.

Before leaving Beijing for Pingyao, the hotel which booked our train tickets claimed not to have heard of it (this was a Chinese hotel, and no, my pronunciation was fine). It turned out that they knew of Pingyao, but only as a destination for Chinese tourists. They did not believe that we would want to go there, and that, yes, I must have mispronounced whereever it was we wanted to go. Having said all that, Pingyao is a 'Mecca' for Chinese tourists, although there was a handful of Western tourists there, as well.