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Datong
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Datong is the second largest city in
Shanxi Province, situated in the far north, near the border
with Inner Mongolia. Amid the blasted landscape of modern
industrial China-coalmines, power stations and a huge locomotive
factory--are some marvellous ancient sites, remnants of the
city's glory days as the capital city of two non-Han Chinese
dynasties. The Turkic Toba people took advantage of the internal
strife afflicting central and
southern China to establish their own dynasty, the Northern
Wei(386-534), taking Datong as their capital in 398 AD, by
which time they had conquered the whole of the north. Though
the period was one of strife and warfare, and the Wei never
fully consolidated their hold on power,the Northern Wei, who
became fervent Buddhists, made some notable cultural achievements,
the finest of which was a magnificent series of cave temples
at Yungang, just west of the city, still one of the most impressive
sights in northern China. Over the course of almost a century,
more than fifty caves were completed, containing over fifty
thousand statues, before the capital was moved south to Luoyang,
where contruction began on the similar Longmen Caves. A second
period of greatness came with the arrival of the Mongol Liao
dynasty, also Buddhists, who made Datong their capital in
907. They were assimilated into the Jin in 1125, but not before
leaving a small legacy of statuary and some fine temple architecture,
notably in the Huayan and Shanhua temples in town, and a wooden
pagoda, the oldest in China, in the nearby town of Yingxian.
Datong remained important to later Chinese dynasties for its
strategic position just inside the Great Wall, south of Inner
Mongolia, and the tall city walls date from the early Ming
dynasty. Though most visitors today are attracted by the Buddhist
sites, Datong is also the closest city to Heng Shan, one of
the five holy mountains of Taoism, whose most spectacular
building, the almost unbelievable Hanging Temple, is firmly
on the tour agenda. |
