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Datong

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Alternative meanings of 'Datong': Datong District in Taipei City, or the Chinese ideology of "Great unity" (dàtóng).
"Tatung" redirects here; for the company of the same name, see Tatung Company.
Location within Shanxi Province
Datong (}; }) is a city in the northern Shanxi Province in China.

History

Datong railway station
Enlarge
Datong railway station

The town was founded as Píngchéng (平城) in 200 BC during the Han Dynasty. Located near the Great Wall Pass to Inner Mongolia it blossomed during the following period and became a stop-off point for Camel Caravans moving from China into Mongolia and beyond. It was sacked at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Pingcheng became the capital of Northern Wei from 398 AD until 494 AD. The famous Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟) were constructed during the later part of this period (460 - 494 AD).

The city was renamed Datong in 1048 AD and sacked again at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1649 AD), but promptly rebuilt in 1652 AD.

Economy

The GDP per capita was ¥10550 (ca. US$1270) in 2003, ranked no. 242 among 659 Chinese cities. Coal mining is the dominant industry.

Colleges and universities

See also

External links


Prefecture-level divisions of Shanxi
'''Prefecture-level cities: Changzhi | Datong | Jincheng | Jinzhong | Linfen
Luliang | Shuozhou | Taiyuan | Xinzhou | Yangquan | Yuncheng
List of Shanxi County-level divisions

 


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