Shan). Wu Tai Shan can be reached by train from the South through TaiYuan, or from the North through Datong, both in Shanxi Province.
Since the year 1999 AD, when the Yungang Caves became a UNESCO World
Cultural Heritage Site, the City of Datong yearly celebrates the China Datong
Tourism Festival. In the 2nd half of August Tourists from around the world are
There are three large coal fired powerplants on the suburbs of Datong, one supplying the City of Beijing alone, and two for the area of Datong and the remainder of Shanxi Province. The city is further home to a
Datong is a small provincial city with a long history, lying at an elevation of 1270 meters above sea-level in the Loess lands in the North of North-China's Shanxi Province. It is one of the best examples of an old chinese City still remaining in Shanxi Province with much of the city center in its original state (2005) with small housing and cramped streets, a three story wooden drum tower and now crumbling but remaining earthen city walls typical for a Hsien City (Hsien= capital of a tax & adminstrative district ruled by a "Magistrate".) Founded no less than 2000+ years Ago during the Han Dynasty and not very long after the founding of China as a unified State, the city first originated as PingCheng, a stronghold and garrison City, located on China's Northern Frontier nearby a pass on the Great Wall of China, the pass to Inner Mongolia (there are 3 passes on the outer great wall in Shanxi Province in total - NingWuGuan , YanMenGuan and PianGuan on the west near the Yellow River). Buried in the safety
behind the newly built and connected Great Wall, the city was allowed to develop
further and became a flourishing trading post, market and stop-off point for trading
caravans on the Silk- (and Tea-) Road leading to Mongolia, central asia and beyond to
the West .
Much later, during a decline of China's Central Powers, North-China was over-run and
unified under the flag of the turkmenic Toba Tribes. The resulting 5Th Century
North China. During this period, the small city grew immensely in importance and
became a flourishing city on the Silk Road along which buddhist influences were
carried into China (and in the following period beyond). Its new status as Capital City
turned Datong into a center of culture and buddhist learning. Many monuments
were erected by the ardently Buddhist Toba to glorify their Capital as well as their
Emperor who was perceived to be a reincarnation of the Buddha. As a result the
nearby Yungang village (west of Datong) with its Caves were constructed and became
an important Buddhist site and Monastery, growing slowly -over a period of 50 years-
into a multitude of Caves with thousands of smaller and larger Buddha images and
Statues locally known as Cloud Ridge Caves. At Yungang and Datong the influences
of the Silk Road (Buddhism from India) and the chinese traditions of Daoism and Confucianism were combined and mixed to form the Mahayana form of Buddhism now prevalent across East-Asia. The Yungang grottoes would remain an important Monastery and Holy Site for ages to come, equalling Dunhuang (Gansu Province, west-China) and the Bamiyan statues of Afghanistan (now destroyed by islamic religious zealots). The Toba left in 494 AD, moving their Capital to Luoyang in Henan Province, carving out a new Maze of Buddhist Caves there.
In the 7Th century Datong briefly became the Capital City of the Chinese Sui Dynasty. During this period, in which the Chinese were again under mounting pressure from raiding tribes in the North, the Sui were the First to truely make Datong into a Fortress City. Henceforth Datong was not merely be a trading post but a fortified border city and garrisoned outpost of Chinese Culture.
Bhagavan Stack Hall , home to the scriptures library at the Lower HuaYan Monastery.
Original 10-to 12Th Century AD Clay Buddhist statues of the HuaYan Monastery.
Overview of modern housing and buildings in Datong's modern City with windblown Yellow Dust and Northern Hills in the background.
12Th Century statues of the Upper HuaYan Monastery Main Shrine Hall.
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Close-Up of the Central Portion of the Screen and arched entry Bridge.
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A unique eyewitness account from the frontlines in North-China -Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia - Travel with the Red Armies in their War against Japan.
Time-line and main stories of all Emperors of the Ming and Ching Dynasties. Guide and description to all pavilions in the entire Imperial Palace with Maps.
One of the very few historic analysis and lively descriptions of the history of the Silk / Tea Road North-Route into Central Asia, to the West and the North beyond the Great Wall.
Soundbonus - Yellow River Piano Concerto Part II Ode to The Yellow River
Japanese Officers discussing strategy at a field post.
A Satellite image of North China and East-Asia, showing clearly the strategic position of Datong in relation to the Great Wall of China. Super-imposed schematic Map shows the location and Path of the Great Wall as excisted during the Reign of the Ming Dynasty. Included for reference are City names, geographical features of landscape, Names and locations of Passes on the Great Wall of China.
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As an important outpost and strategic strongpoint it was immediatly rebuilt (1652 AD) by the newly established Ching Dynasty (Shu Tzi reign period). Only after the introduction of trains and railroads in China during the last throws of the Ching Dynasty and the connection of Datong to China's railway system (Ping-Shui R.R.), the position of the city changed once more. Datong grew in size and became an industrial city and transportation hub of raw materials (Coal mainly) and machinery.
During the Japanese Invasion and occupation, first of Manchuria, and following of
China entire, Datong became a strategic point in the Japanese advance from Beijing
west-wards. Located on the only railway line into Northern Shanxi and located at the
pass to Inner Mongolia (where japanese sponsored skirmishes had already occured
with Mongolian "rebels"), Datong became a main focal point of military action.
Japanese attempts to penetrate West from the Coast inward via
Datong and TaiYuan, both railway hubs, were met by inadequate
forces from the National KuoMinTang Army and by the much more
efficient guerilla forces of the early chinese communist Party and its legendary 8Th
Route Army ( under command of General Chu Teh), who had just arrived in North-China from
their "Long March". In the initial fases a battle was fought at the YanMenGuan Great Wall
Pass at Datong delaying the Japanese advance considerably (as was the case at
TaiYuan and NiangTseKwang, all mountain-passes in Shanxi Province). Not much later
(after 1938/39) the area of Datong, and all of Shanxi Province were occupied by
Japanese Forces, who were however continually harrassed by chinese guerilla's
from local villages (and the 8Th route army operating from Yenan,
Shaanxi south and across the Yellow River). Japanese tactics were
inferior to the Guerilla-tactics of the 8Th route armies and the rugged
Shanxi terrain impossible for the heavily armed and modern
equipped Japanese soldiers. The japanese offensive was eventually
held roughly along the line of the Yellow River ("Bend") and the
Province) another famous and vital crossroads within the chinese heartland. Japanese Forces were concentrated along railroads in an attempt to protect supply lines and Datong was an important garrison city, essential for the occupation of all of China. The country-side of Shanxi, rugged and mountainous and excellent terrain for population supported guerilla actions, was mainly communist
-controlled by the end of 1938. In their headquarters at Yanan (Ye'Nan) in Nort Shanxi the communist
leadership started planning for a strategy for all of China. It would still be a long struggle to realize their ideal of a New China.
A Satellite Image based Map of the Gobi Desert and the Flow of the Yellow River clearly showing Datong's strategic and geographical position.
Post-Revolutionary Datong - After the second world war, the subsequently re-started civil war and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in november 1949 AD, Datong was once again forgotten and only grew as one of the industrial centers of the North. As a side-effect of this, its railway facilities were greatly expanded and improved and a new Railway Station was constructed. Datong, as were other cities in the area, was turned into a model worker city and during the Cultural Revolution Era the City was a much propagandized bulwark of socialism, a period from which slogans on many walls in and around the City bare witness. Its function as the coal supplier of China's industry would determine its Future.
The Sui Dynasty was soon followed by the Tang Dynasty ( 8Th Century ) who moved the chinese Capital to Chang'An (Xi'An, Shaanxi Province) to the south and west, a postion closer to the Silk Road which became of vital importance during the Tang economic golden age. During the Tang Dynasty and afterwards Datong remained what it was - an important outpost on the outer ring of the Great Wall
of China and a border City on the road to Mongolia. In 960 AD, however, another raiding tribe
descended from the North and Datong feel into the hands of the Khitans. These, a mongolian
nomadic and warring tribe that worshipped the Sun, had shortly united the North and founded the
Liao Dynasty (907-1125 AD). Datong, as an important stronghold became the second Capital of the Nation. The Dynasty disappeared after two centuries, but great cultural and historical relics from
the Liao Dynasty period remain in the shape of Clay Statues inside the Huayan- and Shan Hua
Monasteries.
unrests in the Northern territories through the Centuries. During one such period, the
strengthen the city further. As such Datong had once more become an
imperial city and became an even more essential stronghold in the defenses of the
Northern Border. In the following 2 centuries Datong would repeatedly be at the center of
Battle, as Mongols were probing defenses in the North. During one such Mongol excursion the outer layer of the Great Wall in North Shanxi was penetrated by a 50.000 strong Mongol Army and Datong was
occupied. Furthermore, in the ensuing Battle for control of the City and the Northern Border an amassed Chinese army was clumsily defeated and the chinese Yingzong Emperor was captured. He was held hostage by the Mongols for 6 years after which he was able to return to his Throne. Later during the Ming Dynasty, in 1540 AD and 1550 AD respectivily, Datong, the stronghold on the North Shanxi defenses on the Great Wall of China was again at the Center of battle between the Northern invaders and the Chinese
Armies. Now protected by high mud-brick defensive Walls, the City survived through relatively unscathed. The city was never again to fall to the Mongol hordes, untill a period of weak defenses fell in with the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. In 1649 AD Datong, the border city was sacked and nearly raised to the ground. The City and Palace were destroyed, leaving the Datong 9 Dragon Screen as one of the few remaining structures.
The lower HuaYan Monastery was founded during the Tang Dynasty, however none of the early halls remain with the oldest Temple Hall dating to the year 1038 AD. In the year 1048 AD the name PingCheng was discarded and the city was renamed DaTong, meaning "Great Unity". During the 12Th Century Jin Dynasty (1115 AD - 1234 AD), when Datong was the 2nd Capital (a reflection of its importance as trading post on the great wall as well as its importance as a militairy strongpoint and fall-out base in defense against the nearby mongol and other northern tribes beyond the great wall), the HuaYan Monastery with its Clay Buddha Statues, unique Carpentry and truely priceless library of 1700 buddhist scriptures (sutras) was extended with the much larger and more ambitious Upper HuaYan Monastery including one
of the largest preserved wooden halls (1560Sq meters)
in China. The Monastery, standing near the heart of the old
city inside now dilapidated earthen City Walls, is in use
and can still be visited (for a small fee) today. Drum Tower
as well as City Walls are in walking distance. After its brief
Glory during the heydays of the Wei Dynasty of North
China, Datong reverted back to its original status as a
welcomed to a special program and cultural performances hosted by the
Datong during the Chinese Civil War - In June of 1946 AD open hostilities between the Nationalist KuominTang Government and
the Communists "Peoples Liberation Army" which held large swaths of the poor chinese countryside, reignited once more across China. In July of 1946 AD a full-scale battle roared up in North Shanxi Province around the Nationalist stronghold City of Datong and the (now) Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region around the City of Jining. In the event the City of Datong was attacked by a large but ill-equipped and trained communist force and besieged for about a month. Although the defenders were forced inside the historic city wall, and the train station on the north-western outskirts was taken, the KuoMinTang City Garrison held out untill relieved in September by KuoMinTang alies. The Battle for the City had costs around 14000 chinese lives, of which a "mere" 2000 on the communist side. Nevertheless, the communist forces lost their most valauable veterans and would have to retreat for the time being.
Today's Datong - locally also known as Mei Du, the Coal Capital, is a mainly industrial city that recently jumped from a citizenry of around 270.000 inhabitant to 960.000 in 2005, most working in the (Coal) mining and related industries. Urbanization of the fragile Chinese Inner-land continues with migrants continuing to leave the country-side bound for the City. Recent numbers suggest migrants have swelled the city to over a million citizens. Pollution is a big problem in Datong.
Pass, the 11Th Century Mu Ta Pagoda, one of the oldest wooden buildings in the world and one of the few remaining original wooden Pagoda Structures, and the Buddhist Holy Mountain Area of Wu Tai Shan (five terrace mountain), revered since the days of the 1st Emperor and blessed with some of the most historic buildings in North China including several wooden Pagoda's and no Less than 8
monasteries. Datong is also known as the Northern Gateway to the Roof of North of China (Wu Tai
