大同古城

The Datong Ancient City is the historic core of one of northern China's most significant military and political centers, a place whose strategic location near the Yanmen Pass earned it the epithet "key to the north" across many dynasties. Continuously inhabited for more than two millennia, the city served successively as the capital of the Northern Wei, a secondary capital of the Liao and Jin, a Ming frontier garrison, and a Qing regional center. For travelers interested in how Chinese cities preserve and reinvent their past, Datong has become one of the most interesting case studies in the country.

What visitors encounter today is largely the product of an ambitious early-twenty-first-century conservation and reconstruction program. Beginning in 2008, the city undertook a massive project to restore the old city wall, rehabilitate the major temples and historic structures, and revive the dense network of lanes and courtyards within the walled enclosure. The project has drawn both praise and debate — praise for rescuing monuments that had been slowly deteriorating, and debate about the balance between reconstruction and authentic preservation — but the result is undeniably striking.

Within the walls, the major landmarks include Huayan Temple, Shanhua Temple, the Nine-Dragon Wall, the Drum Tower, and the reconstructed Prince Dai's Palace compound, connected by lanes lined with shops, traditional-style residences, and small restaurants. The city wall itself is a highlight: its massive brick-and-earth rampart, wide enough to walk or cycle on top of, offers a full circuit of the old city with views down into the lanes and out toward the modern skyline of contemporary Datong.

Walking the ancient city, the layers of history are tangible. Beneath the Ming and Qing lanes lie Liao and Jin foundations, beneath those the Northern Wei capital itself, and beneath that, traces of still earlier settlements. The city wall walk, best done at sunset when the light catches the brickwork and the silhouette of the pagodas and temple roofs, is one of the great simple pleasures of a Datong visit. Allow a half-day minimum, and combine the visit with a day trip to the Yungang Grottoes for a complete picture of the city's place in Chinese history.