Datong

Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, located in a basin at an elevation of 1,040 metres and bordering Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. Known as the 'City of the Coal', Datong has developed into the second largest industrial city in Shanxi due to its advantage in energy. Its large reserves of coal make it a very important energy base for China. It was the political, economic and military center of ancient North China, which attracted many people from various nations for trade or business. These prosperous days left the city with a series of splendid historic and cultural relics like the Yungang Grottoes and Hanging Monastery. Most of them are the integration of minorities' cultural and Han culture.

The Yungang Grottoes are a collection of shallow caves located 16 km west of Datong. Within the city itself, there are a few surviving sites of historical interest such as the Nine-Dragon Wall, the Huayan Monastery and the Shanhua Temple Further afield is the Hanging Temple built into a cliff face near Mount Heng. Most of the historical sites in this region date to the Tang and Ming dynasties, but the Hanging Temple dates to the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534).