Datong Travel Guide - Brief Information on Datong

Datong is located in northern Shanxi Province, bordered by Inner Mongolia to the north and Hebei Province to the east. Covering an area of 14,113 square kilometers, Datong has four districts and seven counties. It is the second largest city in Shanxi Province with a population of 3.18 million.

Datong has developed into the second largest industrial city in Shanxi Province due to its coal mining history and is well known as the 'City of Coal'. Its large reserves of coal make it a very important energy base in China. As it is a key resource city, transportation connections with Datong are quite convenient, especially by road and by railway. A series of railways and roads form an extensive network connecting Datong with many other cities.

Datong is one of the 24 famous historical and cultural cities in China because of its ever prosperous history. With a history of over 2400 years, Datong was the capital of Northern Wei Dynasty (386~534) for 96 years, and the 'support capital' of Liao (916~1125) and Jin (1115~1234) dynasties. It was the political, economic and military centre of ancient North China, which attracted many people from various nations for trade and business.

The scenery of Datong differs greatly from the pretty and delicate cities in southern China. What you can find here is continuous peaks rising one upon another, majestic old temples standing for thousands of years and the vast sky and light cloud over your head.