Datong in Shanxi, a strategic stronghold during the Han dynasties, the imperial capital of the Northern Wei dynasty, a secondary capital under the Liao and Jin dynasties, and a major stronghold in the Ming and Qing periods, stands as one of China's first batch of National Historical and Cultural Cities and among the nation's nine ancient capitals. These designations all reflect the former splendour of this millennia-old metropolis.
For a long time, Datong has been known as the ‘Coal Capital’ due to its coal resources and industrial strengths. Yet, the city also possesses rich historical and cultural assets, including the magnificent Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple clinging to the cliffs of Mount Heng, and the solemn and splendid Huayan Temple, all imbued with profound cultural heritage.
In recent years, Datong has fully tapped into and utilised its exceptional historical and cultural assets, achieving their creative transformation and innovative development. The fusion of ancient and modern charm and vitality has propelled this millennium-old capital beyond its conventional image, evolving from a coal-mining hub into a major cultural and tourism destination.
Within the Ancient City Walls
Standing atop Datong's ancient city walls and looking inward, one beholds four major thoroughfares, eight minor lanes, and seventy-two winding alleys. The view is filled with quaint street-front shops, traditional courtyard houses, ancient temples such as Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple, and rare historical structures like the Dai Prince's Mansion. The city walls enclose 134 immovable cultural relics, including six national key cultural relics protection units and eleven provincial-level protection units. It also boasts 28 intangible cultural heritage items at various levels and eleven museums.
On-site performances featured the melodious and enchanting strains of the violin; a young artist sketched visitors' portraits with remarkable skill; while the Flying Apsaras dance, recreating elements from the Yungang Grottoes' celestial figures and murals, was graceful and enchanting... The Southeast District of Datong Ancient City has become a hub for innovative cultural tourism experiences, repeatedly going viral and attracting visitors eager to explore its unique attractions.
It is reported that Southeast Yi boasts dozens of immovable cultural relics and historic buildings, making it a densely concentrated historical and cultural district. Adhering strictly to the original street layout, Datong City has undertaken meticulous ‘micro-renovations’ that respect the district's historical structure and cultural character while thoughtfully integrating modern design elements, achieving a harmonious blend of ancient charm and contemporary flair.
Simultaneously, Southeast Village has gathered diverse establishments including art galleries, cultural salons, creative studios, guesthouses, and themed restaurants. By weaving culturally enriched lifestyles into its historic lanes and courtyards, it has forged a distinctive, leisurely-paced living quarter. Art seasons, reading clubs, cultural salons, lifestyle aesthetics markets... Southeast Village draws crowds of locals and visitors alike, becoming a vibrant feature of Datong's ancient cityscape.
Guided by the urban development philosophy of ‘one axis, two cities, separate development; balancing ancient and modern, benefiting both old and new; preserving cultural heritage while creating distinctive features,’ Datong City has harmoniously integrated the preservation of the ancient city with the expansion of the new city. Today, within the 7.24-kilometre-long ancient city walls, one finds not only ancient architectural complexes dating from the Liao and Jin dynasties to the Ming and Qing eras, but also cultural enterprises brimming with modern vitality, creating a vibrant tapestry where past and present intertwine.
Millennia-Old Grottoes Rejuvenated
Recently, the ‘Three-dimensional Model Dataset of the Main Structure of Cave No. 13 at the Yungang Grottoes,’ registered under the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute of Datong City, completed its data registration on the Shanxi Provincial Data Intellectual Property Registration Platform. This marks the issuance of Shanxi's first ‘Data Intellectual Property Registration Certificate’ to the Yungang Grottoes.
This certificate represents a significant achievement in leveraging the Yungang Grottoes' ‘data element’ resources through modern digital technology, implementing ‘data resource convergence and integration to empower cultural heritage conservation and utilisation.’ The dataset can be applied across multiple levels, including digital cultural resource asset archiving and management, archaeological research, cultural relic monitoring, conservation and restoration, exhibition display, and cultural heritage development. It effectively promotes the full flow and value realisation of data elements.
Digital technology provides robust support for the conservation and restoration of the Yungang Grottoes, extending this ancient cultural heritage beyond physical sites to the digital realm, thereby revitalising it.
Cave 12 of the Yungang Grottoes houses dozens of exquisitely carved musicians and musical instruments, renowned worldwide as the ‘Music Cave’ for its exceptional artistic value. Since 2016, Zhejiang University has collaborated with the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute to conduct high-fidelity 3D digital data acquisition of the ‘Music Cave’ using three-dimensional laser scanning technology. Subsequently, 3D printing technology was employed to create precise 1:1 scale replicas, successfully creating a ‘clone’ of the Music Cave and vividly ‘recreating’ it. Concurrently, the collaborative team innovatively adopted a modular replication and assembly approach, enabling convenient and rapid transportation, relocation, and reassembly. This innovation has truly brought the ‘Music Cave’ to life, allowing it to “move” and ‘travel’.
Within the Digital Conservation Centre exhibition hall at the Yungang Research Institute, visitors don VR headsets to witness cave complexes and statues restored before their eyes with remarkable realism, immersing them in the grandeur and exquisite craftsmanship of the Yungang Grottoes.
The Yungang Grottoes have successively implemented and completed projects encompassing digital modelling of representative caves, construction of a three-dimensional information system, and comprehensive digital data acquisition.
Currently, the Yungang Research Institute is collaborating with universities to develop applications based on three-dimensional data, leveraging...
