Datong Travel Guide

Datong, a prefectural city in north China’s Shanxi province, is reclaiming its long past in a massive rebuilding and repairing project. This includes its city walls and moat, which are now mostly finished, the refurbishing of various ancient sites and temples, and the restoring and recreation of an entire old town from the eras of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

It would not be the first time an old town was recreated in China, but it represents one of the larger projects, as well as a turning of thought of Chinese people towards their past; a turning from one that hated and even sought to destroy vestiges of the past during the reign of Mao Zedong to one that is actively seeking to rediscover the past, celebrate it and keep it alive.

It may be a turning point for modern Datong as well, as it shifts from being reliant on coal industries and amongst the most polluted cities in China, to depending more on tourism, and cleaner. This latter shift is more uncertain than the former, since Datong’s “new old town” still hasn’t gained much popularity, and the city’s air is still pungent with coal fires. The change in China’s view towards its past however is clearly in a turnaround.

Datong History

Datong itself has over two thousand years of past beneath and around it. Being a northern city, and founded as early as two centuries BC, it was frequently a useful place of defense against many invaders from the Mongol region. This is especially true as it sits just south of a portion of China’s Great Wall (begun also during the reign of Emperor Qin) and as it is largely ringed by mountains, being a least partially walled in on all sides but the south.

When invaders did get through China’s defenses, as they have periodically throughout history, Datong became the capital briefly of northern dynasties, such as the Wei and the western portion of the Jurchen Jin.

Remarkably, invaders nearly all took to admiring Chinese ways of life and Chinese governing institutions, and for practical purposes became Chinese. Later Manchu invaders even had a Chinese administration up and running before they invaded and conquered the previous Ming. Northern tribes have left China with such characteristic features as a long-standing capital in Beijing, and the Mandarin language itself. They have also been absorbed into the lifeblood of China, at times to the point of disappearing.
The Datong area furthermore is a site of much of the early entrance of Buddhism into China through northern tribes, having some of the earliest Chinese Buddhist temples and carvings. In the region, one sees both the Buddhist elevation into Chinese society, as well as its incorporation with previous Taoism and Confucianism.

Top Must-visit Datong Attractions

Yungang Grottos

The Yungang Grottos lie not far southwest of Datong and stretched out along a cliff covering one kilometer, mark the establishment of Buddhism in China. Begun during the northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD) which sought to make Buddhism the official religion, they are a series of caves carved into the rock and filled with statues of the Buddha both large and small, along with numerous decorations from its base to its ridge turning an entire stretch of rock along carvings. They cover the cliff and the riverside into an arena of worship as well as a solid yet fading emblem of China’s history.

The artwork -- solemn, magnificent, warm, mysterious, and even playful -- is among a handful of top ancient Buddhist sites in China. One can see in the grottos the influence of western art from the cultures that Buddhism had entered previously. One can also see its absorption of Chinese artistic styles over time. While the earliest carvings were done during the Wei dynasty, others are from the Sui dynasty (581-618 AD), and even later.

Mt. Hengshan

One of Datong’s most magnificent neighbors and heralds of its past is Heng Mountain or Hengshan. This enormous massif which reaches an altitude of over 2,100 meters is one of five mountains in China treated as sacred by Taoists, and also contains several ancient temples, most notably the Hanging Temple (Xuankong) near its base, which was built into a sheer cliff 1,500 years ago. Hengshan has over one hundred peaks, and like Datong and other parts of the region itself, has historically been part of a defensive barrier against the northern tribes.

In fact, its Golden Dragon Gorge has been a line of defense in great battles in the past, supported also by the mountain’s steep slopes, many precipices, beacon towers, and fortresses. Naturally, Hengshan has attracted to its mystifying environs Chinese emperors, poets, and men of influence through history, their stone engravings dotting its hills and peaks.

Although the mountain is home to countless historical artifacts and stunningly beautiful views, and despite being a Taoist mountain for supposedly 6,000 years, its most well-known wonder may be Xuankong Temple which is built into a sheer cliff near its base. One of the most unique buildings in all of China, the temple’s halls are suspended on the rock face, master builders having drilled holes in the rock and supported the wooden halls with beams firmly planted in the holes. Parts of the halls are also built into the rock itself, making them part traditional Chinese hall, part cave.

It is breathtaking to see an entire structure suspended this way, springing out of a rock face, with a sheer drop beneath it. Another unique characteristic of this amazing complex is that it blends Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian religions into its design and artifacts, promoting all three. It is one of few temples in China which blend the three religions. In fact, its Three Religions Hall houses statues of Buddha, Laozi, and Confucius, the founders and main figures of each worldview.

At this particular monastery this may have resulted from the Wei Dynasty’s desire to expand Buddhism, yet compromising because Hengshan had long been a Taoist peak. Regardless of the reason, the Hanging Temple is considered by many to be one of the wonders of the world.

Sakyamuni Pagoda (Yingxian Wooden Pagoda)

The pagoda, a tower structure characteristic of East Asia for well over a thousand years, is a brilliantly engineered design, one that allows each of its levels (stories) to hang along a central pillar, only loosely attached to the levels above or below itself. For this reason, each level can swing fairly freely if there is great pressure, such as from high winds or an earthquake.
This is why the best-built pagodas, including Sakyamuni Pagoda in Yingxian, can survive powerful earthquakes and are still intact after centuries’ weather, wear and disasters. Sakyamuni, built about one millennium ago during the northern Liao Dynasty is among the tallest and oldest wooden structures still standing, and a feat of incredible engineering.

The pagoda, which is part of a Buddhist temple, has five octagonal tiers as seen from the outside, but inside actually has nine levels, a mezzanine being built between each tier. The levels themselves have two rings of pillars along with a balcony that rounds the entire pagoda and allows incredible views of the surrounding country from each story. Statues, murals, and paintings adorn the building, representing Buddha, his disciples, and many other religious figures.
The Liao Dynasty during which the pagoda was built was known for its architectural achievements, as well as for its use of octagonal structures, and unique Liao features can be seen in the artwork throughout the building. The Liao, like the earlier northern dynasty of the Wei, officially supported Buddhism, and similarly build Buddhist temples and shrines throughout the region.

Datong Great Wall

Being on the frontier between the ancient Chinese empire and the Mongolian north, Datong is naturally not far from a stretch of China’s Great Wall. While perhaps not the first choice for travelers to this historical frontier, the ancient fort Hongcibao, which guards a mountain pass, along with stretches of at times dilapidated Great Wall portions lie about an hour north of Datong.

Not a long drive from Hongcibao is a village containing another old fort Deshengbao (Achieving Victory Fort), where you can stay in locals’ houses in the middle of farmland and a hike away from stretches of wall. Other forts and guard towers dot the arid landscape in the region near Datong, many are not accessible by public transportation.

China’s Great Wall was begun under Emperor Qin about two centuries BC, incorporating certain pre-existing local walls into a united construction. The wall, really multiple walls united together, has been added to by later Chinese dynasties to form thousands of miles of walls, sometimes doubling up and running parallel to one another.

The main body of walls runs along a southern perimeter of Inner Mongolia, but other stretches reach further west into Gansu Province. New stretches of wall are even occasionally uncovered in the wilderness today. The Great Wall throughout Chinese history was an important defensive fortification for many dynasties, yet somewhat neglected by others. Most of the portions still in good shape today date to restorations from the late Ming and Qing dynasties, portions which also include elite architecture and engineering. The most intact portions are of course examples of more modern rebuilding.

Huayan Temple

One of the Liao Dynasty’s (916-1125 AD) major Buddhist legacies, this artistically complex and gorgeous temple has been added to and restored several times, including during Datong’s rebuilding and restoration started in 2008. Along with other repaired or rebuilt structures, it is among one of the city’s most popular destinations. Huayan Temple is divided into two main sections: the Upper Monastery and the Lower Monastery.

The upper is a huge and ornate hall, among the largest in temples in China, which is over 1,500 square meters. Murals, paintings, and carvings of vibrant color and detail cover the ceiling and walls. The lower section is less visually stimulating and is greatly known for its sculpture, housing 31 Buddhas from the Liao Dynasty, several showing rare or unique architectural features. It also houses a major collection of ancient sutras, verses of Buddhist teachings.

In contrast to other Chinese Buddhist temples, which are aligned north-to-south, Huayan is aligned east-to-west; this is because of the previous Liao tradition of worshipping the sun, for which they always faced east. Thus their ancestral traditions affected their Buddhism, which they established strongly in this region.