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Datong
is the second largest city in Shanxi, and is known by the locals as the coal
capital (Meidu) for a good reason. Datong coal is everywhere: tons of it
powering the whole of Shanxi and other cities beyond, piles of it chugging along the roads
around town in Soviet style off-blue trucks, smears of it discovered on a face-wiped
handkerchief. The city is one of China"s most polluted and not only asthma sufferers
should think twice before spending any amount of time in the city. Industrial and economic
development has bounded in great leaps since the communists came to power in 1950, and
huge swathes of the city have been altered into concrete. Despite all this travellers
still have a few huge incentives to visit Datong, incentives that are all related to the
town"s ancient past. Lying in the northern area of Shanxi Province, Datong was originally, over 2,200 years
ago, founded as a military stronghold, holding out the hordes that frequently pushed south
from Mongolia. If you are
interested there still remain a number of dilapidated watchtowers on the Great
Wall about 40km north of the city at the inter-provincial border. The city was
often raided, the Mongols were often repelled, and the city took on a rough border town
look. It
was not until 1,600 years ago that the city"s luck turned. A group of nomadic Turkish
people, the Toba, setting up their Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD),
decided to establish their capital at Datong. The Toba were to become fanatic Buddhists,
as is shown from the carvings in the Yungang
Grottoes, and by their later work in the Longmen Caves when the capital was moved
to Luoyang in 494 AD.
The Yungang Grottoes, although much removed from their former glory, are still one of the
most impressive cave sights in China. The city fell from imperial favour for a few centuries, but regained importance in 916
AD when the city was again made capital, this time of the Buddhist Liao Dynasty (916-1125
AD), and this continued on into the ensuing Jin Dynasty (1115-1234 AD). Buddhist temples
from this era are what remain of the Liao & Jin Buddhist belief, who helped establish
or improve the Huayan Monastery, the Shanhua Temple and Hengshan
Mountain"s Hanging Monastery.
These sights still remain today. |
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