Datong

Datong, city, northern Shanxi sheng (province), northern China. The city is situated at the northern limits of traditional Chinese settlement, just south of the Great Wall on a fertile plain watered by the Sanggan River and its tributaries. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 1,028,730; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,873,000.

History

During the 2nd and 1st centuries bce, the region was the headquarters for the eastern frontier command of the Han armies protecting the area against the militant, nomadic Xiongnu. After the 1st century ce the area was lost by the Chinese, and it was recovered by them only in the latter half of the 3rd century. In 398 ce the Tuoba founders of the Bei (Northern) Wei dynasty established and maintained their capital there even when they controlled all of North China. The seat of their dynasty was finally transferred south to Luoyang in Henan province at the end of the 5th century. The city of Datong was walled in 421, the outer wall being some 10 miles (16 km) in circumference. Vast numbers of Chinese were forcibly removed from elsewhere in the north to settle the area. In spite of the logistic problems arising from having a capital far from the rich revenue-producing parts of the North Chinese empire, the city was of considerable size and splendour. In addition to its palaces and official buildings, constructed by the Wei royal family, who were pious Buddhists, the extensive Buddhist cave temples of Yungang were also built during that period on the western outskirts of the city.

After the transfer of the capital, the city was sacked and abandoned. In the ensuing period it underwent many changes of name. In the early part of the Tang dynasty (618–907), it became the seat of Yunzhou prefecture. At that time it had only a scattering of Chinese settlers, and in the 8th century—when Datong first appeared as the name of the principal army quartered in the area—it was the centre of an extensive program of military colonization. In 947 the area was overrun by the Khitan people and once again became an important administrative centre. Under the Khitan (whose Liao dynasty ruled until 1125) and their successors, the Jin (Juchen), the city was the western capital; an attached Datong county was set up in 1048. Under the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368), it was known as Datong. With the establishment of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the resurgence of a centralized China, Datong once again became a major Chinese strategic centre, constituting a stronghold in the line of defense against the Mongols. It was again walled in the late 14th century. From Ming times onward it was incorporated into Shanxi province.

The contemporary city

Datong’s growth as a modern city began in 1917 with the completion of the railway linking it to Beijing and Tianjin. The line was extended westward to Hohhot and Baotou (both in Inner Mongolia) in 1920–23, after which the city was also linked with central and southern Shanxi by a line to Taiyuan. In the 1950s its importance increased with the completion of the western rail link with Lanzhou in Gansu province and Ürümqi in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang and of the northern line to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and to Siberia. Datong was also the centre of a local road network into Inner Mongolia; it became a collecting and commercial centre for the surrounding Chinese agrarian population and for the Mongolians in Inner Mongolia.

Nicknamed the "City of Coal," Datong has as its primary economic activity the mining of coal. Its annual output of coal amounts to a significant portion of the total for the province. An electrified heavy trunk rail line was constructed in the 1980s to link the city with the seaport of Qinhuangdao (northeastern Hebei) on the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli) for transporting coal. Because of its abundant coal deposits, power generating is also an economic mainstay. Industries producing machinery, cement, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals also have been developed there.

Datong preserves many ancient buildings and monuments, some dating to the Liao and Jin periods. In addition to the Yungang caves, which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001, the Shanhua and Huayan temples are well known. To the north of the city is the large tomb of the mother of the founder of the Bei Wei capital.