Datong

Datong (大同), the second largest city of Shanxi Province, is situated in the far north of the province, bordering Inner Mongolia.

Datong serves as the capital city of two dynasties, Northern Wei (386-534), and Liao Dynasty. Top attractions include some marvelous ancient sites, remnants of the city's glory days as the capital city of two dynasties. Today Datong is a modern industrial city known for its coalmines, power stations and a huge locomotive factory.

Though most visitors today are attracted by the marvelous ancient Buddhist sites, Datong is also the closest city to Mount Hengshan, one of the four holy mountains of Taoism in China. The spectacular Hanging Temple in Hengshan is a must-see to any tourists visiting Hengshan.

Datong was established as the capital of the Northern Wei (386-534) in 398 AD when Turkic Toba people conquered the whole northern China, and when the Former Qin state began to break apart. At that time, Former Qin state was busy fighting against Jin forces in central and southern China in the failed bid to unify China.

Northern Wei was a state of fervent Buddhists, and made some notable cultural achievements. Among them, the finest was a magnificent series of cave temples known as Yungang Grottoes. Situated just west of the city, Yungang Grottoes is one of the most impressive sights in North China.

Over the course of almost a century, Buddhists built more than fifty caves housing over fifty thousand statues in Datong. In 494 AD, the dynasty moved its capital south from Datong to Luoyang and started the construction of the similar Longmen Grottoes. More than 30,000 Buddhist images from the time of this dynasty have been found in the Longmen Grottoes.

Datong was made the capital of the Mongol Liao dynasty in 907. The Liao dynasty brought a second period of greatness to Datong. The Liao dynasty built some fine statuary and temples before it was assimilated into the Jin in 1125. The notable architectures are the Huayan (华严寺) and Shanhua (善化寺) temples inside the city, and Fogong Temple Pagoda (佛宫寺释迦塔), the oldest wooden pagoda in China, in the nearby town of Ying County.

Daxi Street and Xiaonan Street are two commercial areas in Datong City where most shoppers will delight in finding most of the department stores and shops selling clothing and jewelry.

Nightlife in Datong may be not as swinging as that in modern metropolises like Shanghai or Beijing, but there are still some places that can be found for your nightlife: