Chinese Language Blog

Explore the old city of Datong in China’s Shanxi province in this short video. An overnight train from Beijing will get you there in just over 5 hours. Check out the old neighborhood and the newly rebuilt City Wall, in addition to some other places of interest such as the Drum Tower, Grand Mosque, and Nine Dragon Wall. Feast on some spicy chicken and fish, and then get rowdy in a pool hall/KTV bar at night.

北京站 – běi jīng zhàn
Beijing Railway Station

人太多了 – rén tài duō le
too many people

我们买了硬卧票 – wǒ men mǎi le yìng wò piào
We bought hard sleeper tickets.

大同 – dà tóng
Datong

山西省 – shān xī shěng
Shanxi province

城墙 – chéng qiáng
City Wall

青年旅舍 – qīng nián lǚ shě
youth hostel

快了宝贝 – kuài le bǎo bèi
Happy Baby

滑旱冰 – huá hàn bīng
rollerblading

鼓楼 – gǔ lóu
Drum Tower

清真大寺 – qīng zhēn dà sì
Grand Mosque

九龙壁 – jiǔ lóng bì
Nine Dragon Screen

清炒西兰花 – qīng chǎo xī lán huā
stir-fried broccoli

鱼香茄子 – yú xiāng qié zi
fish-scented eggplant

辣子鸡 – là zǐ jī
spicy chicken

烤鱼 – kǎo yú
grilled fish

吃饭以后，我么去打台球 – chī fàn yǐ hòu, wǒ me qù dǎ tái qiú
After dinner, we went to play pool.

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.

A common sight around Spring Festival.

It’s that time of the year again. With just a few days to go before the beginning of China’s most important festival – the Spring Festival (春节 – chūn jié) - millions upon millions of people are getting ready to head home. This annual mass migration is known as the Spring Festival rush (春运 - chūn yùn), and it is the biggest in the world every year. Although the festival itself only lasts for 15 days, this intense period of travel lasts for about 40. In 2008, the number of passenger journeys during this period hit over 2 billion – more than the total population of the country. Getting a train or bus ticket becomes virtually impossible at this time, for a few reasons.

A short news clip about this year’s travel season, set to be the biggest on record.

Migrant Workers

The main reason for the madness of Chunyun is the fact that the millions of migrant workers (农民工 – nóng mín gōng) in the big cities do everything they can to make it back to their hometowns to ring in the New Year with their family. With more and more economic opportunities sprouting up in the big cities, especially on the east coast, the number of migrant workers has increased rapidly. During the Spring Festival, a reverse migration occurs, as these workers flee the smog-filled cities where they earn a living to return to their rural homes. As few migrant workers can afford the luxury of air travel, they all end up competing for coveted bus and train tickets. It’s not uncommon to find tons of people sitting on the floor or standing on train rides of over 30 hours. Spring Festival is all about family reunion, so everyone does everything in their power to not be left alone.

People talking about going home for the holidays last year.

College Students

Thanks to education reforms, the number of students enrolling in university in China has also increased dramatically. Most of these college students (大学生 – dà xué shēng) end up studying far away from their hometown. As an English teacher in a prominent university here in Beijing, I can attest to that fact – my students come from all over the country. During the Spring Festival, all of these students go on winter holiday (寒假 – hán jià), which of course means heading back to their hometowns, often by train. At least for the students, they can get a jump on the working folks, which brings us to the final point.

Workers on Holiday

The Spring Festival is one of two one-week holidays in China that are known as Golden Weeks (黄金周 – huáng jīn zhōu). Along with China’s National Day, the Spring Festival is a time when most people get a whole week off of work. During this time, many people in the mega-cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will also head back to various hometowns to visit relatives. With more and more Chinese entering the middle-class, tourism is booming in the country at that time. Of course, folks with more disposable income choose to forego the woes of domestic travel by instead jetting out to Europe or tropical destinations like Thailand or the Maldives.

Trailer for the documentary film “Last Train Home,” which is all about Chunyun.

With such high demand for tickets, an abundance of temporary ticket offices are set up around the holiday. Tickets also go one sale earlier than usual, and the offices keep longer hours to try and handle the massive influx of costumers. Of course, with so many people desperate for a ticket, the market for scalpers (黄牛 – huáng niú – lit. “yellow bull”) has been huge around the Spring Festival. In an effort to curb the illegal re-sale of tickets, China recently instituted a rule that says passengers must present a valid ID when purchasing a ticket and then show the same ID when checking in for a train. This has caused a drastic drop in the amount of scalpers and illegal tickets, and it has at least taken some of the misery out of the travel period.

As for yours truly, I learned long ago not to even attempt domestic travel during the Spring Festival. Unlike my students, I don’t have a Chinese family reunion to get back to. As such, I avoid train and bus stations like the plague for those two weeks and get the hell out of dodge by flying somewhere warm – Thailand in 2011, Mexico last year, and the Philippines this year. Don’t get me wrong, I love the history and traditions of the Spring Festival; I’d just rather be sitting on a beach with a fruity cocktail in one hand and a book in the other than be fighting massive crowds of people to cram on an oversold train. Wherever and however you choose to spend the Chinese New Year, I’ll leave you with a common Spring Festival greeting – best wishes for a prosperous year (恭喜发财 – gōng xǐ fā cái)!