Northern Wei emperors ruled from Datong for nearly a century, from 398 to 494 CE, when it was called Pingcheng. In 200 BCE the first Han emperor spent seven days stuck on a hill beside the town, and was lucky to get out alive.
北魏皇帝在大同定都近一个世纪，从公元三九八年到四九四年，当时它叫平城。公元前二〇〇年，汉朝第一位皇帝在城旁的一座山上被困了七天，好不容易才活着出来。
In the 2010s the city rebuilt its wall. The work displaced thousands of residents.
二十一世纪一〇年代，这座城重建了城墙。工程让数以千计的居民搬了家。
In between those two events, the Northern Wei court began carving the Yungang Grottoes in 460 CE, 16 kilometres west of town. A monk named Tanyao suggested it.
两件事之间，北魏朝廷于公元四六〇年在城西十六公里处开始开凿云冈石窟。出主意的是一位叫昙曜的僧人。
Trapped Emperor, Carved Cliff
被困的皇帝，雕出的山崖
People’s Digest reported that Modu, the Xiongnu ruler, was said to have 400,000 troops. Liu Bang had won a few early battles, ignored advice and chased the Xiongnu straight into a trap.
《人民文摘》刊文称，匈奴冒顿单于据说有四十万兵力。刘邦先胜了几仗，不听劝告，一路追进了陷阱。
He was surrounded for seven days and nights on Baideng Mountain, east of Pingcheng, with no supplies and no reinforcements. His adviser Chen Ping sent gifts to Modu’s consort, who talked her husband into withdrawing; Liu Bang walked out alive.
他在平城东面的白登山上被围七天七夜，没有粮草，也没有援兵。谋士陈平给冒顿的阏氏送去礼物，阏氏劝动丈夫撤兵，刘邦这才活着走了出来。
China Daily counts 252 caves and 51,000 statues along about a kilometre of cliff at the foot of Wuzhou Mountain, with 18,000 square metres of carved surface. UNESCO added the site to the World Heritage List in 2001.
《中国日报》统计，云冈石窟沿武周山脚下约一公里的崖壁分布，共有二百五十二个洞窟、五万一千尊造像，雕刻面积一万八千平方米。二〇〇一年，联合国教科文组织把它列入世界遗产名录。
The first caves were the grandest. Yellow River News reported that the five earliest and largest, the Tanyao caves, carved Buddhas to look like Northern Wei emperors, and that the work went on until 524 CE.
最早的几窟也最气派。黄河新闻网报道，最早也最大的五个洞窟，即昙曜五窟，把佛像雕成了北魏皇帝的模样；开凿一直持续到公元五二四年。
Coal, Planes and Trains
煤、飞机与高铁
Datong is still a coal city, and coal remains central to its economy. The city’s 2025 statistical bulletin puts GDP at ¥181.5 billion, up 3.2 percent in real terms, with a year-end population of 3.044 million.
大同依然是煤城，煤炭在经济中仍居核心。大同市二〇二五年统计公报显示，全市生产总值一千八百一十五亿元，按可比价格计算增长百分之三点二，年末常住人口三百零四万四千人。
Coal industry value added rose 8.1 percent while non-coal industry fell 2.3 percent, the bulletin says, and raw coal output was 157.75 million tonnes, down 2.9 percent. Its eight key monitored scenic areas received 20.217 million visitors, up 14.7 percent.
公报称，煤炭行业增加值增长百分之八点一，非煤行业下降百分之二点三；原煤产量一亿五千七百七十五万吨，下降百分之二点九。八个重点监测景区共接待游客二千零二十一万七千人次，增长百分之十四点七。
Getting there is easier than it used to be. Datong Yungang International Airport lies 17 kilometres east of the city and has 13 domestic routes to 21 cities, plus a Bangkok service that opened in 2024, according to the municipal government’s foreign affairs office.
如今去大同方便多了。据市政府外事办公室介绍，大同云冈国际机场位于城东十七公里，有十三条国内航线通达二十一座城市，另有二〇二四年开通的曼谷航线。
By rail, China Daily reported that the 309-kilometre Jining–Datong–Yuanping high-speed railway, which runs through Datong, opened on 31 December 2024 and cut the Hohhot–Taiyuan journey from about five hours to three hours 12 minutes.
铁路方面，《中国日报》报道，途经大同的集大原高铁全长三百零九公里，于二〇二四年十二月三十一日开通，把呼和浩特到太原的行程从约五小时缩短到三小时十二分钟。
The Wall and the Mayor
城墙与市长
Which brings us back to the wall. Geng Yanbo became mayor in 2008 and left in February 2013, and in between he went big. Sixth Tone reported that he set out to rebuild the old buildings and move the economy from coal to tourism, turning more than three square kilometres of the city centre into a building site.
于是又说回城墙。耿彦波二〇〇八年出任大同市长，二〇一三年二月调离，这期间他的手笔很大。据第六声报道，他着手重建古建筑，并推动经济由煤炭转向旅游，市中心三平方公里多的土地变成了工地。
Restoring the wall took eight years and relocated 23,000 residents, according to Datong Daily in 2016. The documentary The Chinese Mayor followed Geng’s work.
据《大同日报》二〇一六年报道，修复城墙用了八年，迁出居民两万三千人。纪录片《中国市长》记录了耿彦波的这段作为。
Opinion split hard. Planning official Zhang Weng told Sixth Tone that Geng picked the city up from rock bottom, while the professor Ruan Yisan called the result a theme park.
看法分歧很大。规划部门官员张翁对第六声说，耿彦波把这座城从谷底拉了起来；教授阮仪三则称眼前建起来的是一座主题公园。
The whole project was estimated to cost ¥70 billion, most of it for the new district to the east, and the city reportedly owed about ¥20 billion when he left. In 2019 national agencies criticised Datong’s wide-scale demolition and told it to rectify the situation within three years or risk losing its National Historical and Cultural City title.
整个项目的总花费估计为七百亿元，大部分用于东边的新区；据报道，他离任时全市欠债约两百亿元。二〇一九年，国家有关部门批评大同大拆大建，责令其三年内整改，否则可能失去国家历史文化名城称号。
The wall follows an older line. According to Datong’s municipal government, Xu Da built it in 1372 over the ramparts of earlier dynasties, including the Northern Wei, who had ruled from Pingcheng. Its circuit runs 7.24 kilometres.
城墙沿用的是一条更古老的线。据大同市政府介绍，徐达于一三七二年在前朝城垣的基础上修筑了这道城墙，其中就有曾定都平城的北魏。城墙一圈长七点二四公里。
