Misplaced Pages

#971028

43-572: The site is located about 16 km west of the city of Datong , in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. There are 53 major caves, along with 51,000 niches housing the same number of Buddha statues. Additionally, there are around 1,100 minor caves. A Ming dynasty-era fort

86-465: A headache for the local government." Su Jiede wrote that since Pingcheng District , which had most of its urbanized area, had 1,105,699 people as of 2020, "Datong is a small city by Chinese standards ". Datong is the northernmost city of Shanxi, and is located in the Datong Basin, with an administrative area spanning latitude 39° 03'–40° 44' N and longitude 112° 34'–114° 33' E. The urban area

129-2233: A large railway locomotive works ' Datong locomotive factory ', where the 'Aiming Higher' ( Chinese : 前进 ; pinyin : Qiánjìn ) class of steam locomotive was built as late as the 1970s. Steam locomotive production ended in the late 1980s and the plant's main products (as of 2010) is mainline electric locomotives. Direct-administered municipalities . Sub-provincial cities as provincial capitals . Separate state-planning cities . Special economic-zone cities . Open coastal cities . Prefecture capital status established by Heilongjiang Province and not recognized by Ministry of Civil Affairs. Disputed by Oroqen Autonomous Banner , Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia as part of it. Only administers islands and waters in South China Sea and have no urban core comparable to typical cities in China. The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction. See Template:Administrative divisions of Taiwan instead. Prefecture-level city Provinces Autonomous regions Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures Autonomous prefectures Leagues (Aimag) (abolishing) Prefectures Provincial-controlled cities Provincial-controlled counties Autonomous counties County-level cities Districts Ethnic districts Banners (Hoxu) Autonomous banners Shennongjia Forestry District Liuzhi Special District Wolong Special Administrative Region Workers and peasants districts Ethnic townships Towns Subdistricts Subdistrict bureaux Sum Ethnic sum County-controlled districts County-controlled district bureaux (obsolete) Management committees Town-level city Areas Villages · Gaqa · Ranches Village Committees Communities Capital cities New areas Autonomous administrative divisions National Central Cities History: before 1912 , 1912–49 , 1949–present A prefecture-level city ( Chinese : 地级市(地級市) ; pinyin : Dìjíshì ) or prefectural city

172-482: A less detailed map, Xianning would be indicated by a point, more or less corresponding to the coordinates of its city government. Other populous areas may also be exhibited as points, such as the county of Tongshan , with no indication that Tongshan is, in fact, enclosed by Xianning. On a more detailed map, Xianning would be drawn as an area, similar to a county of the United States, and Tongshan would be drawn as

215-435: A prefectural level city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term shìqū (市区; "urban area"), is used. The first prefectural level cities were created on 5 November 1983. Over the following two decades, prefectural level cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures; the process is still ongoing. Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefectural level cities. Of

258-815: A site within present-day Datong in 200   BC following its victory against the Xiongnu nomads at the Battle of Baideng . Located near a pass to Inner Mongolia along the Great Wall , Pingcheng blossomed under Han rule 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 . Pingcheng became the capital of the Xianbei-founded Northern Wei dynasty from AD   398–494. The Yungang Grottoes were constructed during

301-475: A smaller area within Xianning. This convention may lead to difficulty in the identification of places mentioned in older sources. For example, Guo Moruo writes that he was born in the town of Shawan, within the prefecture of Leshan, and attended primary school in the town of Jiading. A modern map is unlikely to show either town: Shawan, because it is too small, and Jiading, because it is the seat of Leshan, and

344-578: Is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefectural level cities. There are a total of three classifications of prefecture-level cities: In Europe and North America, cities are generally represented as points, while counties are represented as areas. Thus, Bloomington, Indiana , is indicated on the map by a point, which is distinct from, and enclosed by, the area of Monroe County, Indiana . In China, however, large cities such as Xianning may, in reality, contain both urban and rural elements. Moreover, they may enclose counties or other cities. On

387-561: Is abundant year-round, and the city receives 2,671 hours (about 60% of the possible total) of bright sunshine per year. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −31.9 °C (−25 °F) on 16 December 2023 to 39.2 °C (103 °F) on 29 July 2010. The Yungang Grottoes are a collection of shallow caves located 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Datong. There are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas within these grottoes, ranging from 4 centimeters to 7 meters tall. Most of these icons are around 1500 years old. Within

430-541: Is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China's prefectural cities were designated as counties as the country's second level division below a province. From 1949 to 1983, the official term was a province-administrated city (Chinese: 省辖市). Prefectural level cities form

473-933: Is an old fashioned coal mining city, and still sits on significant reserves of this commodity. Consequently, it has developed a reputation as one of China's most polluted cities. The Datong Coal Mining Group is based here and is China's third largest such enterprise. Datong is indeed however an emerging economy, as the city seeks to loosen its dependence on coal, introduce more environmentally friendly and efficient methods of extraction and move into other areas of business services. The local government has continued to upgrade its pillar coal sector (and related industries like coal chemicals, power and metallurgy), while also developing "substitute industries" such as machinery manufacturing, tourism and distribution, warehousing and logistics services. This has had some impact. Datong's GDP grew by 5.1 percent in 2008 to RMB56.6 billion. While coal will continue to dominate, Datong has been identified as one of

SECTION 10

#1732766253972

516-434: Is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal entry with subordinate districts, and a prefecture with subordinate county-level cities and counties which is an administrative division of a province. A prefectural level city is often not a "city" in the usual sense of the term (i.e., a large continuous urban settlement), but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, a main central urban area (the core city, city as in

559-576: Is still located on top of the cliff housing the Yungang Grottoes. The grottoes were excavated in the south face of a sandstone cliff about 2600 feet long and 30 to 60 feet high. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Yungang Grottoes are considered by UNESCO to be a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... [and] ...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in

602-409: Is surrounded on three sides by mountains, with passes only to the east and southwest. Within the prefecture-level city elevations generally increase from southeast to northwest. Datong borders Ulanqab ( Inner Mongolia ) to the northwest and Zhangjiakou ( Hebei ) to the east, Shuozhou (Shanxi) to the southwest, and Xinzhou (Shanxi) to the south. The well-known Datong Volcanic Arc lies nearby in

645-474: Is therefore indicated on the map by a point labelled "Leshan." A more detailed map would show Shawan as a district within Leshan, but Jiading would still be missing. Statistics of China such as population and industrial activity are generally reported along prefectural city lines. Thus, the relatively unknown city of Huangshi has 2.5 million residents, more than most European capitals, but upon closer inspection,

688-569: The Datong Basin . It is 250 kilometres (160 mi) west of Beijing . Datong has a continental , monsoon -influenced steppe climate ( Köppen BSk ), influenced by the 1,000 metres (3,300 ft)+ elevation, with rather long, cold, very dry winters, and very warm summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from −10.5 °C (13.1 °F) in January to 22.6 °C (72.7 °F) in July;

731-568: The National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities that year. Prior to 2008, about 100,000 people lived in the old city. In 2008 mayor Geng Yanbo decided to redevelop much of the inner city, with over 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) being redeveloped, and with Geng becoming known as the "Demolition Mayor". Geng and his group anticipated that 30,000 to 50,000 people would remain in the old city. In 2013 Geng left his position. Su Jiede of Sixth Tone wrote that much of

774-512: The Republic of China as their special municipalities . Criteria that a prefecture must meet to become a prefectural level city: Fifteen large prefectural level cities have been granted the status of sub-provincial city , which gives them much greater autonomy. Shijiazhuang , Suzhou , and Zhengzhou are the largest prefectural level cities with populations approaching or exceeding some sub-provincial cities. A sub-prefecture-level city

817-487: The 1970s. When the construction of steam locomotives was phased out, the authorities did not want to lose this valuable tourism market, and pondered the possibility of developing a steam railway operating center as an attraction. A number of study visits were undertaken to the East Lancashire Railway at Bury , and a twinning arrangement was concluded with that town. In 2010, work began on reconstructing

860-525: The 22 provinces and five autonomous regions of the PRC, only nine provinces ( Yunnan , Guizhou , Qinghai , Heilongjiang , Sichuan , Gansu , Jilin , Hubei , and Hunan ) and three autonomous regions ( Xinjiang , Tibet , and Inner Mongolia ) have at least one or more second level or prefectural level divisions that are not prefectural level cities. In the case of the disputed Taiwan , it has six prefectural level cities, but these are governed separately by

903-745: The 5th century CE under Imperial auspices." It is classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration . After the decline of the Western Jin dynasty , the northern parts of China came under the control of the Tuoba -ruled Northern Wei . They made the city of Pingcheng ( 平城 ), now known as Datong ( 大同 ), their capital. Due to its promotion, Pingcheng saw an increase in construction work. The Northern Wei early adopted Buddhism as their state religion. Buddhism arrived in this location via travel on

SECTION 20

#1732766253972

946-522: The ancient North Silk Road , the northernmost route of about 2600 kilometres in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia . The work on this first period of carving lasted until the year 465 AD, and these caves are now known as caves 16–20. Beginning around

989-474: The annual mean temperature is 7.33 °C (45.2 °F). Due to the aridity and elevation, diurnal temperature variation is often large, averaging 13.2 °C (23.8 °F) annually. There barely is any precipitation during winter, and more than 3 ⁄ 4 of the annual precipitation occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 54% in July to 66% in October, sunshine

1032-400: The carvings were painted, but because the caves have been repainted evidently up to twelve times, determining the original scheme is difficult. The site was heavily featured, as was the rest of Shanxi province, in the settings visited by the character The Destined One from the globally renowned AAA game Black Myth: Wukong . Tourism greatly increased as the grotto went from the least visited of

1075-456: The carvings, and bullet marks are still visible to observers. During April and May 1991, Caltech personnel conducted air pollutant measurement experiments in the Yungang Grottoes. It was found that nearly all of the airborne matter was mineral dust or carbon particles, allowing a focus of attention on sources of these kinds of matter. Cave 6 is one of the richest of the Yungang sites.  It

1118-952: The city itself, there are a few surviving sites of historical interest such as the Nine-Dragon Wall , the Huayan Monastery ( 华严寺 ; Huáyán Sì ), 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 Liao, Jin and Ming dynasties, but the Hanging Temple dates to the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). The railway locomotive works (see below) began to attract increasing numbers of railway enthusiasts from

1161-419: The city was still under construction at the time and that Geng's efforts resulted in "a half-finished city center and a complicated legacy" and that "To critics, the city had spent enormous sums of money without much to show for it." By 2020 the population of the old city was below 30,000 and there were fewer governmental facilities available for the residents. That year Su stated that the old city "still presents

1204-426: The city's 14th century Ming dynasty defensive wall. The controversial reconstruction project was in its final phase at the end of 2014. The documentary The Chinese Mayor documents two years of vigorous and highly controversial (due to summary demolition of about 200,000 homes) effort by Mayor Geng Yanbo to push the reconstruction project forward. Datong is known for its knife-cut noodles . The GDP per capita

1247-413: The construction came to a final halt due to uprisings in the area. Since the end of the works, the sandstone of the grottoes has been exposed to heavy weathering. Many of the grottoes are exposed to the open air, and are therefore vulnerable to various forms of pollution and deterioration.  Windblown dust and air pollution from the industrial city of Datong, as well as dust from mines and highways near

1290-686: The control of the Ming dynasty , serving as an important Ming military stronghold against the Mongols to the north. During the Ming period, many of Datong's notable historical structures such as the Drum Tower and the Nine-Dragon Wall were built. Datong was sacked again at the end of the Ming in 1649, but promptly rebuilt in 1652. By 1982 a portion of its city walls remained so it became one of

1333-512: The core urban area, and towns also form small urban areas scattered in the rural. The larger prefectural level cities span over 100 kilometres (62 mi). Prefectural level cities nearly always contain multiple counties , county level cities , and other such sub-divisions. This results from the fact that the formerly predominant prefectures, which prefectural level cities have mostly replaced, were themselves large administrative units containing cities, smaller towns, and rural areas. To distinguish

Yungang Grottoes - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-493: The key cities requiring redevelopment, with part of this being in environmental cleanup, rehabilitation and industrial refocusing. Datong is a pilot city for rehabilitation studies following years of pollution. To this end it has already struck up strong relationships with other cities worldwide with similar backgrounds, and has begun plans, for example, to develop a tourism base focused on steam engine technology with antique locomotives to be used along designated tracks. Datong has

1419-700: The later part of this period (460–494). During the mid to late 520s, Pingcheng was the seat of Northern Wei's Dai Commandery . During the Tang dynasty , Datong became the seat of the Tang prefecture of Yunzhou , and the original Guandi temple was built. The city was renamed Datong in 1048. It was the Xijing ("Western Capital") of the Jurchen Jin dynasty prior to being sacked by the Mongols . Datong later came under

1462-492: The main caves. However, they were destroyed again some 60 years later in a fire. The wooden buildings extant in front of caves 5 and 6 were constructed in 1621, during the early Qing dynasty . Since the 1950s, cracks in the sandstone have been sealed by grouting, and forestation has been implemented in an effort to reduce the weathering due to sandstorms. During the Cultural Revolution , Red Guards damaged many of

1505-493: The major three grottoes from the Northern Wei to its most visited within a few weeks of the game’s launch. Shanxi has promoted it, in comparison with the game visuals very heavily, as seen in its 2024 tourism council advertisements to great results. Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China . It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of 1,040 metres (3,410 ft) and borders Inner Mongolia to

1548-453: The north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,105,591 of whom 1,790,452 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 out 4 urban districts of Pingcheng and Yungang as Yunzhou and Xinrong are not conurbated yet. The area of present-day Datong was close to the state of Dai , which was conquered by the Zhao clan of Jin in 457 BC. It

1591-575: The second level of the administrative structure (alongside prefectures , leagues and autonomous prefectures ). Administrative chiefs (mayors) of prefectural level cities generally have the same rank as a division chief (Chinese: 司长 ) of a national ministry. Since the 1980s, most former prefectures have been renamed into prefecture-level cities. A prefectural level city is a "city" (Chinese: 市 ; pinyin: shì ) and "prefecture" (Chinese: 地区 ; pinyin: dìqū ) that have been merged into one consolidated and unified jurisdiction. As such it

1634-564: The site pose a threat to the preservation of the ancient statues.  The site is also in proximity of the Gobi Desert, the storms of which can contribute to the decay of the statues. The ensuing centuries therefore saw several attempts to preserve the caves and to repair sustained damage. During the Liao dynasty the caves saw some renewing of statues and, from 1049 to 1060, the buildup of the "10 temples of Yungang", which were meant to protect

1677-407: The usual sense, usually with the same name as the prefectural level city) surrounded by rural areas, which together are divided into districts, and some surrounding counties or county-level cities governed by the prefecture-level city on behalf of the province, which all have their own urban areas surrounded by their own rural areas. The urban areas of the surrounding counties are usually smaller than

1720-479: The year 471 AD, in a second construction phase that lasted until 494 AD, the twin caves 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10 as well as the caves 11, 12, and probably 13 were constructed under the supervision and support of the imperial court. The imperial patronage ended 494 AD with the move of the Wei court to the new capital of Luoyang . All other caves emerged under private patronage in a third construction period, lasting until 525, when

1763-562: Was a frontier land between the agricultural Chinese and the nomads of the Great Steppe . The area was well known for its trade in horses . The area of present-day Datong eventually came under the control of the Qin dynasty , during which it was known as Pingcheng County (平城县) and formed part of the Qin commandery of Yanmen . Pingcheng County continued under the Han dynasty , which founded

Yungang Grottoes - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-480: Was constructed between 465 and 494 C.E. by Emperor Xiao Wen.  The cave's surface area is approximately 1,000 square meters.  The entire interior of the cave is carved and painted.  There is a stupa pillar in the center of the room extending from the floor to the ceiling.  The walls are divided into two stories.  The walls of the upper stories are host to carvings of standing Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and monks among other celestial figures.  All of

1849-412: Was ¥17,852 (US$ 2,570) per annum in 2008, ranked no. 242 among 659 Chinese cities. Coal mining is the dominant industry of Datong. Its history and development are very much linked to this commodity. Development zones Datong Economic and Technological Development Zone Due to its strategic position, it is also an important distribution and warehousing center for Shanxi, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. Datong

#971028