Datong

Datong (Chinese 大同, pinyin Dàtóng, W.-G. Ta-t'ung, abbreviations: 大, Dà / 同, Tóng) is a Chinese county-level city in Shanxi province with a population of about 1.36 million (2010) in the urban center and another 1.96 million in the surrounding counties. Datong is located about 300 kilometres west of Beijing at about 1200 metres above sea level and has an area of 14,176 square kilometres.

The city was founded as Píngchéng (平城 - "City of Peace") during the Han Dynasty and was the capital for nearly a hundred years (398 to 494) during the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 1048, the city was renamed Datong fu (大同府 - "Great Unity"), after a local stream (大同川), a name it retains to this day. The city has the poetic epithet Fènghuáng Chéng (鳳凰城 / 凤凰城 - "Phoenix City") in Chinese.

Geography

Datong administers a territory of 14,176 square kilometers, which is about 9.1% of the territory of Shanxi Province. It is located in the northwest of Shanxi Province, bordering Zhangjiakou and Baoding to the east, Shuozhou and Xinzhou to the south and west, and Ulanqab to the north; it is also the site of the Great Wall of China. Its north-south extension is 189 kilometers, its west-east extension 137 kilometers.

Datong is located in the northeast of the Loess Plateau, near the Yan Mountains. It has a varied relief, but is mostly hilly to mountainous, and lies mainly at altitudes of 1000 to 1500 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by two mountain ranges that enclose an elongated basin in the middle with the city area proper. To the northwest of Datong are the foothills of the Yinshan Mountains and the Lüliang Mountains, respectively. The main mountain ranges in the territory of Datong are Shuang Shan, Erlang Shan, Yunmen Shan, Cailiang Shan and Leigong Shan. In the south of Datong are the foothills of the Taihang Mountains with the mountain ranges Heng Shan, Taibai Shan and Liuleng Shan. Here is also the highest peak of Datong called Huangyang Jian with 2420 meters. The lowest point of Datong is in Huata Village, Lingqiu County at 558 meters above sea level.

The territory of Datong is crossed from west to east by the Sanggan He River. It divides between the Qifeng Shan, Hongtao Shan and Heng Shan a basin of 5127 km², in which the city area is located. The smaller settlements in the area of Datong are located in other basins, each covering an area of about 500 km².

The Sanggan River, the Huliu River, the Nanyang River and the Yu River belong to the Yongding River basin. Its catchment area in Datong has an area of 10,831 km². The Tang River belongs to the catchment area of the Qing River, whose catchment area in Datong occupies 2071 km². These rivers discharge about 734 million cubic meters of water annually. There are 111 reservoirs in Datong, of which the six largest can collectively store 679 million cubic meters of water, while the others hold another 106 million cubic meters.

Datong belongs to the temperate continental climate zone with an average annual temperature of 6.6 °C. The temperature differences between day and night and winter and summer are large. Precipitation averages 400 mm per year, but with large variations between years.

Population

As of 2015, Datong had a total population of 3,406,400. In addition to Han Chinese, Datong is home to members of 18 ethnic minorities, of which only the Hui Chinese and Manchus account for more than 1,000 people.