Datong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alternative meanings of 'Datong': Datong District in Taipei City, or the Chinese ideology of "Great unity" (dàtóng).

"Tatung" redirects here; for the company of the same name, see Tatung Company.

Datong (Chinese: 大同; pinyin: Dàtóng) is a city in the northern Shanxi Province in China, and is located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of 1050 meters.

1 History
2 Places of Interest
3 Economy
4 Colleges and universities
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Nine Dragon Screen

Datong railway station

The town was founded as Píngchéng (平城) in 200 BC during the Han Dynasty. Located near the Great Wall Pass to Inner Mongolia it blossomed during the following period and became a stop-off point for Camel Caravans moving from China into Mongolia and beyond. It was sacked at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Pingcheng became the capital of Northern Wei from 398 AD until 494 AD. The famous Yungang Grottoes (云岗石窟 Yúngǎng Shíkù) were constructed during the later part of this period (460 - 494 AD).

The city was renamed Datong in 1048 AD and sacked again at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1649 AD), but promptly rebuilt in 1652 AD.

[edit] Places of Interest

The Yungang Grottoes, or Cloud Ridge Caves (云岗石窟 yún gǎng shí kù）are a collection of shallow caves located 16 km west of Datong. There are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and Boddhisatvas within these grootes, ranging from 4 centimeters to 7 meters tall. Most of these icons are around 1000 years old. Within the city itself, there are a few surviving sites of historical interest such as the Nine Dragon Screen (九龙壁 jiǔ lóng bì）, the Huayan Monastery（华严寺 huá yán sì）, and the Shanhua Monastery（善化寺 shàn huà sì). Further afield is the Hanging Temple (悬空寺 xuán kong sì) built into a cliff face near Mount Heng. Most of the historical sites in this region date to the Tang and Ming dynasties.