City Info: Datong, Shanxi Province
| This
industrial city in northern Shanxi Province, just inside the Great Wall,
houses the largest of China′s great Buddhist caves-the Yungang Buddhist
Grottoes. The 21 major caves of Yungang contain some 51,000 bas-relief stone
carvings dating back to the Northern Wei. Traces of Indian, Persian, and
Greek styles show the evolution of cultural and religious thought from the
5th century onward.
Datong now produces a third of all China's coal, enough to fuel the two
power stations on the city's outskirts, one of which supplies electricity
for Beijing, the other for the whole of Shanxi Province. Coal dominates
the modern city - it sits in the donkey carts and lorries that judder
up and down the main roads, it stains the buildings black and it swirls
in the air you breath, making Datong one of the most polluted cities in
China.
Population
3,000,000
Cuisine
No any gourmet food in Datong, typical northern Chinese cuisine based on noodle and steaming meat dumplings.
When to Go
You can visit Yungang Grottoes whole year around. Winter is dry and cold.
Railway Station Info In the city's northern outskirt, at the end of Da Bei Jie. The taxi fare for any destination with city area is around CNY 15/USD 2 per taxi |
Accommodations |