Zhengying, originally named "Pusheng Village", is 10 km from Shiping County seat, before Ming Dynasty, Zhengying had been a village inhabited by Yi people. In 1381, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of Ming Dynasty dispatched 300,000 troops to go on an expedition to Yunnan. An armyman with the surname Zheng came to Shiping with the troops. He then settled down and chose Pusheng Village to live in and to open up frontier land. The village was hence renamed "Zhengying". After the Zheng family settled down, some people with different surnames form Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces migrated into Zhengying and it became a large village inhabited by Han people. Zhengying looks like a perfect small city with walls around it and two city-gates as well as strong forts. In this "small city", there are some streets and many lanes, most of which are named by either family names or on geographical environment.

The architectural structures of the civil residence in Zhengying are also very special: Most of the residences are large quadrangles facing north. One large house is well preserved. It is a house built around 1930 with two entrance halls, covering and area of 1,860 square meters. Being constructed with much qualified building materials, this house fully exhibits its grand and high structure, wide courtyards and 40 rooms.

On Chinese custom, in order to establish the position of a family, people all build ancestral temple or hall to show off their prosperity. The largest temple is the Cheng family Ancestral Hall and the family's first ancestor was fron Anhui. This ancestral hall was constructed in 1925, facing north and covering an area of 1,240 square meters. It was built in masonry with an arch-shape gate. This ancestral hall with such a large scale was done by Cheng Heting, the general manager of a railway company at that time, after collecting money from members in his clan.

In 1999, Zhengying was granted the title "the Number One Village in Yunnan" by Yunnan provincial government.