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Prefecture-level city in Shanxi, People's Republic of China

Datong .mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal} 大同市
Prefecture-level city
From top down, left to right: Datong panorama; Shanhua Temple; Huayan Temple; Yungang Grottoes; Tower at Lingyan Temple; Temple of Confucius (Wenmiao); Guandi Temple; Yinghui Gate of the City Wall
Location of Datong City jurisdiction in Shanxi
Datong Location of the city center in Shanxi
Coordinates: 40°05′N 113°18′E / 40.083°N 113.300°E / 40.083; 113.300Coordinates: 40°05′N 113°18′E / 40.083°N 113.300°E / 40.083; 113.300
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Shanxi
Government
• Type	Prefecture-level city
• Party Secretary	Zhang Jifu
Area
• Prefecture-level city	14,176 km2 (5,473 sq mi)
• Urban	2,080 km2 (800 sq mi)
• Metro	1,074 km2 (415 sq mi)
Elevation	1,042 m (3,419 ft)
Population (2010 census)
• Prefecture-level city	3,318,057
• Density	230/km2 (610/sq mi)
• Urban	1,737,517
• Urban density	840/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
• Metro	1,629,035
• Metro density	1,500/km2 (3,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	037000
Area code(s)	0352
ISO 3166 code	CN-SX-02
License Plates	晋B
Administrative division code	140200
Website	dt.gov.cn

Datong
Chinese	大同
Literal meaning	Great Unity Great Togetherness
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dàtóng Wade–Giles Ta-t‘ung

Former names
Pingcheng
Traditional Chinese	平城縣
Simplified Chinese	平城县
Literal meaning	Peaceful City County Pacified City County
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Píngchéngxiàn Wade–Giles P‘ing-ch‘êng Hsien
Xijing
Chinese	西京
Literal meaning	Western Capital
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xījīng Wade–Giles Hsi-ching

Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in a basin at an elevation of 1,040 metres (3,410 ft) and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. It had a population of 3,318,057 during the 2010 census, of whom 1,629,035 lived in the built-up area made of the three urban districts of Chengqu, Kuangqu and Nanjiao.

History

The Nine-Dragon Wall

The Drum Tower (鼓楼)

The area of present-day Datong was close to the Beidi ("Northern Barbarian") state of Dai, which was conquered by the Zhao clan of Jin in 457 BC. It was a frontier land between the agricultural Chinese and Beidi and the nomads of the Eurasian steppe (known to the Chinese as the Hu or Donghu). The area was well known for its trade in horses.

Pingcheng County formed part of the Qin commandery of Yanmen.^[1] It continued under the Han, who founded a site within present-day Datong in 200 BC following their victory against the Xiongnu nomads at the Battle of Baideng. Located near a pass to Inner Mongolia along the Great Wall, Pingcheng 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. Pingcheng became the capital of Northern Wei from AD 398–494. The Yungang Grottoes were constructed during the later part of this period (460–494). During the mid to late 520s, Pingcheng was the seat of Northern Wei's Dai Commandery.^[2]

The city was renamed Datong in 1048. It was the Xijing ("Western Capital") of the Jurchen Jin dynasty prior to being sacked by the Mongols. It was sacked again at the end of the Ming in 1649, but promptly rebuilt in 1652.

Geography

The Yungang Grottoes.

Datong is the northernmost city of Shanxi, and is located in the Datong Basin, with an administrative area spanning latitude 39° 03'–40° 44' N and longitude 112° 34'–114° 33' E. The urban area is surrounded on three sides by mountains, with passes only to the east and southwest. Within the prefecture-level city elevations generally increase from southeast to northwest. Datong borders Ulanqab (Inner Mongolia) to the northwest and Zhangjiakou (Hebei) to the east, Shuozhou (Shanxi) to the southwest and Xinzhou (Shanxi) to the south.

The well-known Datong Volcanic Arc lies nearby in the Datong Basin.

Climate

Datong has a continental, monsoon-influenced steppe climate (Köppen BSk), influenced by the 1,000 metres (3,300 ft)+ elevation, with rather long, cold, very dry winters, and very warm summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from −10.6 °C (12.9 °F) in January to 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) in July; the annual mean temperature is 6.97 °C (44.5 °F). Due to the aridity and elevation, diurnal temperature variation is often large, averaging 13.3 °C (23.9 °F) annually. There barely is any precipitation during winter, and more than ¾ of the annual precipitation occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 54% in July to 66% in October, sunshine is abundant year-round, and the city receives 2,671 hours (about 60% of the possible total) of bright sunshine per year.

Administrative divisions

Map
Pingcheng Yungang Xinrong Yunzhou Yanggao County Tianzhen County Guangling County Lingqiu County Hunyuan County Zuoyun County
Name	Simplified Chinese[3][4]	Pinyin	Population (2003 est.)[citation needed][5]	Area (km²)[6]	Density (/km²)
Pingcheng District	平城区	Píngchéng Qū	580,000	246
Yungang District	云冈区	Yúngāng Qū	280,000	684
Xinrong District	新荣区	Xīnróng Qū	110,000	1,102	109
Yunzhou District	云州区	Yúnzhōu Qū	170,000	1,501	113
Yanggao County	阳高县	Yánggāo Xiàn	290,000	1,678	173
Tianzhen County	天镇县	Tiānzhèn Xiàn	210,000	1,635	128
Guangling County	广灵县	Guǎnglíng Xiàn	180,000	1,283	140
Lingqiu County	灵丘县	Língqiū Xiàn	230,000	2,720	85
Hunyuan County	浑源县	Húnyuán Xiàn	350,000	1,965	178
Zuoyun County	左云县	Zuǒyún Xiàn	140,000	1,314	107

• Defunct - Kuang District (Chinese: 矿区; pinyin: Kuàngqū) is largely made up of separate mines throughout the metropolitan area.

Tourism

The Yungang Grottoes are a collection of shallow caves located 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Datong. There are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas within these grottoes, 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 Wall, the Huayan Monastery (华严寺; Huáyán Sì), and the Shanhua Temple (善化寺; Shànhuà Sì). Further afield is the Hanging Temple (悬空寺; Xuánkōng Sì) built into a cliff face near Mount Heng. Most of the historical sites in this region date to the Tang and Ming dynasties, but the Hanging Temple dates to the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534).

The railway locomotive works (see below) began to attract increasing numbers of railway enthusiasts from the 1970s. When construction of steam locomotives was phased out, the authorities did not want to lose this valuable tourism market, and pondered the possibility of developing a steam railway operating centre as an attraction. A number of study visits were undertaken to the East Lancashire Railway at Bury, and a twinning arrangement was concluded with that town.

In 2010, work began on reconstructing the city's 14th century Ming dynasty defensive wall. The controversial reconstruction project was in its final phase at the end of 2014.^[7] The documentary The Chinese Mayor^[8] documents two years of vigorous and highly controversial (due to summary demolition of about 200,000 homes) effort by Mayor Geng Yanbo to push the reconstruction project forward.

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  The Hanging Temple
  

  
  

  
  


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  Loess landscape near Hunyuan
  

  
  

  
  


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  A tower on the City Wall
  

  
  

  
  


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  Pagoda at Huayan Temple
  

  
  

  
  


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  Huayan Temple
  

  
  

  
  


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  Lingyan Temple at Yungang Grottoes
  

  
  

  
  

Economy

The GDP per capita was ¥17,852 (US$2,570) per annum in 2008, ranked no. 242 among 659 Chinese cities. Coal mining is the dominant industry of Datong. Its history and development are very much linked to this commodity.

Development zones
Datong Economic and Technological Development Zone

Due to its strategic position it is also an important distribution and warehousing center for Shanxi, Hebei and Inner Mongolia.^[9]

Datong is an old fashioned coal mining city, and still sits on significant reserves of this commodity. Consequently, it has developed a reputation as one of China's most polluted cities. The Datong Coal Mining Group is based here and is China's third largest such enterprise. Datong is indeed however an emerging economy, as the city seeks to loosen its dependence on coal, introduce more environmentally friendly and efficient methods of extraction and move into other areas of business services. Local government has continued to upgrade its pillar coal sector (and related industries like coal chemicals, power and metallurgy), while also developing "substitute industries" such as machinery manufacturing, tourism and distribution, warehousing and logistics services. This has had some impact. Datong's GDP grew by 5.1 percent in 2008 to RMB56.6 billion.^[10]

While coal will continue to dominate, Datong has been identified as one of the key cities requiring redevelopment, with part of this being in environmental cleanup, rehabilitation and industrial refocusing. Datong is a pilot city for rehabilitation studies following years of pollution. To this end it has already struck up strong relationships with other cities worldwide with similar backgrounds, and has begun plans, for example, to develop a tourism base focused on steam engine technology with antique locomotives to be used along designated tracks.^[11]

Datong has a large railway locomotive works 'Datong locomotive factory', where the 'Aiming Higher'^{[clarification needed]} class of steam locomotive was built as late as the 1970s, steam locomotive production ended in the late 1980s and the plants main products (as of 2010) is main line electric locomotives

Main enterprises

• Datong Coal Mine Group(The third biggest coal-mining enterprise in China)^[12]
  


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  Datong Electric Locomotive Co.,Ltd, (DELC) (The second biggest Elec-Locomotive enterprise in China)^[13]
  


• Shanxi Diesel Engine Industries Corporation,Ltd,CNGC^[14]
  


• Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Group Co.,Ltd,CNCC^[15]
  


• GD Power Datong No.2 Power Plant


• GD Power Datong Power Generation Co., Ltd^[16]
  


• Shanxi Datang International Yungang Co-generation Co., Ltd.^[17]
  


• China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Datong Gear CO.,LTD^[18]
  

Transportation

• China National Highway 109


• China National Highway 208


• G55 Erenhot–Guangzhou Expressway


• G5501 Datong Ring Expressway


• Datong Railway Station


• Datong Yungang Airport

Education

Colleges and universities

• 
  Datong University (大同大学)

Major schools

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  Datong No.1 Middle School (大同市第一中学)


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  Datong No.2 Middle School (大同市第二中学)


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  Datong Locomotive Middle School (大同机车中学)


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  Datong No.3 Middle School (大同市第三中学)


• BeiYue Middle School


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  Datong Experimental Secondary School (大同市实验中学)


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  The No.1 Middle School of DCMG(Datong Coal Mine Group) (同煤一中)


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  Datong No.14 Elementary School (大同市第十四小学)


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  Datong No.18 Elementary School (大同市第十八小学)


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  Datong Experimental Elementary School (大同市实验小学)

Communication

South of Datong, there is a VLF-transmitter of the Chinese Navy located at 39°56′43″N 113°15′07″E / 39.94528°N 113.25194°E / 39.94528; 113.25194. The station has as interesting feature that four of its masts look like an inverted "V"-letter.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of twin towns and sister cities in China


• Jumenbu

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

• Cotterell, Arthur (2008). The Imperial Capitals of China: An Inside View of the Celestial Empire. Pimlico, London.
  ISBN 978-1-84595-010-1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Datong.

• 
  Datong travel guide from Wikivoyage


• Official website