Chinese Language Blog

While Datong itself is an interesting city with a long history, the main reasons for traveling there lie outside of the city. Most tourists travel here to visit the Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟 – yún gāng shí kū), one of the three major Buddhist sculptural sites in China. Way back in the day, the Northern Wei Dynasty established their capital at Pingcheng, which is now known as Datong. Buddhism was adopted as the official religion, having made its way there via the Silk Road. The statues were completed between the years 460 and 525, and in total there are 252 grottoes with over 51,000 Buddha statues. Through the years, the statues have been exposed to heavy weathering; thus, many efforts have been made to repair and refurbish them. For example, wooden temples were built outside some of the caves during the Liao Dynasty, but they were destroyed in a fire some years later. Despite all of that, many of the statues are in fine condition, and walking through the many caves here really is an incredible experience.

Transport: Take bus #3 out of Datong city and ride it until the last stop. The fare is only 1 RMB/person.

Ticket: 150 RMB/person

Ling Yan Temple on the way into the grottoes.

Panorama of the temple.

Some of the many caves on site.

Just a few of the thousands of Buddha statues.

Structures built to protect the caves and statues.

The biggest statue at the Yungang Grottoes.

A nice quiet temple outside of the grottoes.

Time machine? Nope, it's part of the museum there.

Another place of interest in Datong is the Hanging Monastery (悬空寺 – xuán kōng sì), a temple built right into a cliff. Built in 491, this temple includes elements of three religions – Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Of course, it has been repaired on multiple occasions, but it is still an architectural wonder that it even exists in the first place! The monastery was built into the cliff side for a few reasons – to protect it from floods, rain, snow, and sunshine, and also to ensure a quiet environment for worshipping. Be prepared for a little bit of vertigo while walking around in the temple, and if you’re scared of heights, you might not want to look down!

Transport: It’s possible to get out here by switching buses a few times, but you’re better off just hiring a driver for the day. On our visit, we paid 70 RMB/person for a comfortable van to the temple, the mountain, and back.

Ticket: 130 RMB/person

Walking up to the Hanging Monastery.

What an incredible sight!

Buddhist statues in the temple.

It's just a little freaky up there...

From the Hanging Monastery, you might as well go visit Mt. Heng (恒山 – héng shān), one of the Five Great Mountains of China (五岳 – wǔ yuè). Don’t get it mixed up with the one in Hunan province, though, as they are both named Mt. Heng (the pronunciation is the same but a different Chinese character is used). To avoid confusion, people call this one Northern Heng. It’s also one of the five tallest mountains in the country, with its peak all the way up at 2,017 meters. Due to its northerly location, Mt. Heng isn’t regarded as highly as some of the other mountains. Actually, this makes for a very enjoyable visit, as you won’t be fighting hordes of tourists (like I did when I climbed Mt. Tai). A hike up the mountain isn’t too difficult, and there are plenty of temples to visit on the way up. For a more relaxing way down, you can take the cable car.

Transport: It’s just up the road from the Hanging Monastery, so have your driver take you there after visiting the temple.

Ticket: An entrance ticket is 55 RMB/person, and the cable car will set you back 25 RMB for a one-way ride or 45 round-trip.

A guy riding backwards on a donkey - it's part of the folklore of this mountain.

A view of Mt. Heng.

One of the many temples on the way up.

Taking the lazy way down.

Although all of this is doable in one very busy day, it’s much better to spread it out over two days – visit the Yungang Grottoes on your first day, explore the city a little bit, and then head out to the Hanging Monastery and Mt. Heng on the second day. Trains ride from Beijing station to Datong overnight, making this trip very feasible for a long weekend.

Datong on the map

In the northern part of Shanxi province, not far from Inner Mongolia, you’ll find the city of Datong (大同 – dà tóng). Thousands of years ago – during the Han Dynasty circa 200 BC – it was known as Pingcheng (平城 – píng chéng), and it would eventually become the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty (北魏朝 – běi wèi cháo) from 398-494 AD. Since then, the city has had a tumultuous history, as it has been sacked, rebuilt, and subsequently sacked again on multiple occasions. In modern times, Datong has been known across China as the “Coal City,” thanks to its large reserves and the resulting dirty air that comes with them. Recently, the government has realized that having this big city rely completely on a non-renewable resource that heavily pollutes the air is not such a good idea. As such, there is an effort to rebuild and renovate Datong and have it eventually be known for more environmentally friendly energy production as well as tourism.

Panoramic view from the City Wall.

Pagoda atop the City Wall

To help bring in the tourist renminbi (人民币 – rén mín bì), Datong has recently been completely rebuilding historical sites that were destroyed in the past.  The ancient City Wall (城墙 – chéng qiáng), which isn’t quite finished yet, is now open for tourists to stroll along. Over one side of the wall, you can take in the views of the old city. Below, you see traditional one story homes – many of them are crumbling and others have already been completely torn down. Time will tell how Datong plans to fix up these historical neighborhoods. Over the other side, you see the rapid development of the city in action – cranes are everywhere, high-rise apartments are sprouting up, and massive shopping malls fight for attention amidst the hordes of people.

Old Datong

vs. New Datong

Strolling around the old city is the best way to get around at the moment, as many of the roads are completely torn up. It’s small enough to walk, and doing so will take you past plenty of other places of interest – the old Drum Tower, a mosque, and the Nine Dragon Screen (九龙壁 – jiǔ lóng bì). Clocking in at 600 years, apparently this is the oldest and largest glazed screen in all of China.

Drum Tower

Mosque

Nine Dragon Screen

At the end of the main pedestrian road in the city, you can find the Huayan Monastery (华严寺 – huá yán sì), which was also completely rebuilt just a few years ago. This Buddhist monastery was originally constructed during the Liao Dynasty (907-1125), whose emperors were strict followers of Buddhism.

Buddha statues in the monastery

After its recent facelift, this sprawling complex really is quite visually impressive. There are many halls to visit, all featuring a variety of statues and artwork. Visitors can also climb to the top of the pagoda to get a bird’s eye view of the old city. From here, you can spot even more cranes, and what appear to be the makings of more newly rebuilt historical structures. Looking down on the contrast below, it was here that I decided to dub Datong an “old, new, old city.” With thousands of years of history, construction and modernization everywhere you look, and the skeletons of ancient buildings coming back to life, it seemed like a fitting nickname.

The newly rebuilt Huayan Monastery

Getting There: There’s no airport here, so you need to get in by either train or bus. Trains from Beijing take about 6-7 hours, and a sleeper ticket is less than 100 RMB one way. Alternatively, you can take a train to the provincial capital (Taiyuan) first, and then switch to a bus.

Hard sleeper bunk on the train

Accommodation: There are plenty of hotels in the city, but there appears to only be one youth hostel. The Datong Youth Hostel is located above a children’s clothing shop in a nice central location down the street from the Huayan Monastery. On our stay, a private double room was 158 RMB/night, while a bed in a dorm room was just 50.

Youth hostel/children's clothing shop

Getting Around: As previously mentioned, many roads are torn up. This has altered several of the bus routes. The old city is small enough to walk around the whole thing. Cabs are cheap as well, starting at just 6 RMB. For the major attractions outside of the city, you can either take a public bus or easily hire a private car.

Walking home from school in Datong

Sights: The old-new City Wall will set you back 30 RMB for a ticket, while the newly remodeled Huayan Monastery costs a steep 80 RMB. The Nine Dragon Screen is a mere 10 RMB, which is good considering you won’t spend more than 10 minutes there. For a cheap day, simply stroll around the old neighborhoods or visit the park and square to live like a local.

Sichuan province in China.

Chances are you’ve probably munched on a dish labeled “Szechuan” in a Chinese restaurant at some point. Where does that delicious, spicy chicken come from? Well, it’s from Sichuan province (四川 – sì chuān), located in southwest China. Famous for its mouth-numbing food, cute and cuddly pandas, and stunningly beautiful landscapes, Sichuan is a fascinating place. There’s been a lot of talk about Sichuan here on the blog in the past, so in case you’ve missed any of it, here are the links to all related posts as well as brief descriptions. Read through them all and you’ll feel like you’ve visited Sichuan yourself. Plus, you’ll learn a ton of new Chinese vocabulary at the same time! I believe Charlie Sheen referred to that as, “bi-winning.”

• Better Know a… Province (Sichuan): We’re going all around China one province at a time here at the Chinese blog. Start the journey with us by diving into Sichuan province. Learn about the history, culture, famous places, and more here.
• Jiuzhaigou Eco-tourism: In this post, learn about an amazing adventure travel opportunity just outside of the Jiuzhaigou national park. While the park itself is a great place to visit, the hordes of tourists can be overwhelming at times. Cue the recently launched eco-tourism hike, which can be done for either one, two, or three days. Hike up a sacred Tibetan mountain, sleep in wooden huts, and watch yaks run free.
• My Vacation to Sichuan (Part One): Challenge yourself and try to get through this post about my trip to Sichuan that is written all in Chinese. If you don’t know characters very well, there’s also pinyin and English.
• My Vacation to Sichuan (Part Two): Learn a lot more about Sichuan and learn a lot of new Chinese in this post.
• Sichuan Cuisine: Sichuan cuisine is famous around the world, and for good reason. It is also one of the Four Great Culinary Traditions of China. Get introduced to it and learn about some of its most notable dishes.

Of course, I also put together a handful of videos about our trip there. All of them can be found on our YouTube channel, but here are two of my favorites:

Get up close and personal with the pandas in Chengdu.

Explore the natural beauty of Jiuzhaigou national park in this video.

To get you practicing your Chinese, take a few minutes and try to answer these questions!

• Have you been to Sichuan? (你去过四川吗？nǐ qù guò sì chuān ma)
• If you’ve been – where did you go? (如果你去过 －你去什么地方了？rú guǒ nǐ qù guò – nǐ qù shén me dì fāng le)
• If you haven’t been – would you like to go? Why? (如果你没去过－你想去吗？为什么？rú guǒ nǐ méi qù guò – nǐ xiǎng qù ma? wèi shén me)
• Do you like eating Sichuan food? (你喜欢吃四川菜吗？nǐ xǐ huan chī sì chuān cài ma)