Datong Tour Guide Ladies and Gentlemen: Welcome to Datong! Datong is one of the first 24 historical and cultural cities announced by the State Council and the second largest city in Shanxi Province.

Datong is located at the northwest end of Shanxi Province, between the inner and outer Great Walls. It is adjacent to Inner Mongolia across the Great Wall to the north and west, faces Hebei and Beijing across Taihang in the east, and is connected to Yansai Xiongguan by the Sanggan River in the south. It has been a must for military strategists since ancient times.

strategically important strategic location.

The urban area is a basin surrounded by mountains on three sides, with Leigong Mountain and Wuzhou Mountain as barriers in the west, Qifeng Mountain as a screen in the southwest, Cailiangshan Suo Town in the northeast, and the Yuhe River running through the north and south, making it a natural place for fortification and city building.

The ancient city of Datong has a long history.

The ancestors of the Chinese nation thrived here as early as the Stone Age.

The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties once belonged to Jizhou.

During the Warring States Period, it belonged to Yanmen County of Zhao State.

In the 3rd century BC, Datong had already built a city. Li Mu, the famous general of Zhao State, built a beacon tower and part of the Great Wall here.

After the unification of Qin, the old system was followed.

After the Western Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, Pingcheng County was established in Datong, which was still under the jurisdiction of Yanmen County.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei ethnic group, whose ancestral home was in the Greater Khingan Mountains, migrated from northeast to southwest and established a capital in central Inner Mongolia.

However, Emperor Daowu Tuobaqi soon moved the capital to Pingcheng from Shengle (today's Horinger in Inner Mongolia) in 398 AD. From then on, Datong served as the imperial capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty for nearly a hundred years (i.e., "the imperial capital of one dynasty") until 494 AD.

Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang in his second year.

During this period, the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out large-scale construction projects in Datong and built hundreds of cities, palaces, and ancestral temples. The famous Yungang Grottoes at home and abroad were excavated at this time.

This period of history was the most glorious era of ancient Datong.

After the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, Pingcheng was renamed Heng'an Town.

In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yunzhong County was established.

In the Sui Dynasty, it was changed to Yunnei County and belonged to Jizhou County.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was under the jurisdiction of Yunzhong County.

The Khitan, another ethnic minority in the Northeast, became stubborn and established the Liao Dynasty, making Datong their "Xijing".

After the Jurchens destroyed the Liao Dynasty and established the Jin Dynasty, Datong remained their accompanying capital in Xijing.

This is the so-called two generations of capital in the history of Datong.

The development of Datong has entered a new period of prosperity. The famous Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple are the precious legacies left behind at this time.

Datong County was established in the Yuan Dynasty.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was governed by Datong Prefecture and was an important town in the north.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Datong County was reestablished.

After liberation in 1949, Datong City was placed under the jurisdiction of Chahar Province. In 1952, it was placed under the jurisdiction of Shanxi Province and became a provincial city.

In 1993, after the Yanbei Administrative Office in Datong was abolished, Datong City now governs 4 districts: urban area, mining area, Xinrong, and southern suburbs, and 7 counties: Zuoyun, Datong, Tianzhen, Yanggao, Hunyuan, Lingqiu, and Guangling.

It has a population of more than 2.7 million, of which about 800,000 are in urban areas and mining areas.

After half a century of construction, Datong has become the second largest industrial base in Shanxi, with developed industries such as machinery manufacturing, building materials, coal, and electricity. There are many large state-owned enterprises such as Shanxi Diesel Engine Factory, Datong Locomotive Factory, Datong Cement Factory, and Datong Thermal Power Plant.

, and the Datong Mining Bureau, which has the largest output in the country, has more than a dozen coal mines with an annual output of more than 37 million tons of high-quality thermal coal, ranking first in the country. Therefore, this famous city outside the Great Wall is also known as the "Coal Capital".

Datong has developed transportation. It is a transportation hub in Shanxi, Hebei and Mongolia. It is the intersection of Beijing-Baotou Railway and Tongpu Railway. It is the starting point of Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway. It is also the starting point of Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway and the international airport from Beijing to Moscow via Ulaanbaatar and Eastern, Central and Western Europe.

An important stop on the intermodal line.

There are 7 highways in Datong connected with Beijing, Hohhot, Taiyuan, Wutai Mountain, Baoding and other places, forming a highway network extending in all directions.

With the construction of Beijing-Dalian Expressway and Dayun Expressway, road transportation in Datong will become more convenient.

As a famous historical and cultural city, Datong has many cultural relics and historic sites, and they are of high value.

There are not only the city wall, Drum Tower, Nine Dragon Wall, Fenglin Pavilion, Caofu Tower, Pipa Old Shop, Pingcheng ruins, Northern Wei Dynasty imperial mausoleums, volcanoes and other scenic spots, but also Yungang Grottoes, Shangxia Huayan Temple, Shanhua Temple and other national key protected areas.

A cultural relic unit, Huiyuan County under its jurisdiction also includes Beiyue Hengshan Mountain and the ingenious scenic Xuankong Temple.