From 'coal capital' to cultural magnet, historic city gains new life

Transformation

Fast-forward to the modern era. Datong, a city once heavily-reliant on coal mining, has diversified its industrial mix by embracing cleaner industries including modern medicines, general aviation, new materials, new energy, and above all, the cultural and tourism industry.

Since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Datong has contributed a total output of over three billion tonnes of coal, however, heavy pollution has been an inconvenient by-product of coal production.

Yuan Xiaozhong recalled the city was once woefully polluted to the point that Buddha sculptures in Yungang Grottoes were joked about by locals as draped with black cassocks.

The city then embarked on protection and renovation projects on its cultural heritage sites, as well as an environmental face-lift. Over the past decade, the share of the non-coal industry in the city's industrial mix rose by 10 percentage points.

From 2012 to 2019, the aggregate revenue of Datong's tourism industry skyrocketed from about 16.28 billion yuan (about 2.28 billion U.S. dollars) to 76.21 billion yuan, and the number of tourist visits from about 18.9 million to 83.97 million.

Today, a coal mine across a river from the Yungang Grottoes was retrofitted into a coal-themed national park, where visitors are shuttled in mine carts down to below 150 meters underground, clad in miners' uniforms, to learn closely about the 140-million-year-old fossil fuel.

Wei Min, 23, a daughter of a coal miner, now works here as an in-house tour guide. "I am working with my father in the same place, but for totally different industries," she said.

The restoration of Datong ancient city, which commenced in 2008, provided another tourist attraction. The city wall inspired the local singer Lu Xin. Watching the sunset from the city wall and listening to wind chimes tinkling, Lu found himself in dialogue with the city, past and present.

Thanks to the boom of local tourism, Lu's band managed to stage scores of shows every year, vis-a-vis only a little more than a dozen of shows a year in the past. Going forward, Lu said, "I plan to launch the immersive kind of street shows on a regular basis, telling my Datong stories to a greater audience."

The boom came amid burgeoning interest in traditional Chinese culture across the country, particularly among young folks. Overcrowded cultural venues are everywhere to be seen in the city.

A Great-Wall-themed photography exhibition held in Datong's Nianxia arts center drew long lines of visitors. Stores selling creative souvenirs are packed with tourists. The dance performance that tries to capture the beauty of a smiling Buddha sculpture in the Huayan Monastery, another cultural heritage site in Datong, also gained popularity.

Tourists flocked to Datong and shared on social media how they were marveled by this previously "underrated" city. In a video uploaded by a woman from Beijing who called herself yuanxiaozhuAndy on lifestyle-sharing social media platform Xiaohongshu, the narrator said, "Datong is a living history of Chinese architecture and a rare feast to the eyes."

Expressing his affection for the city with singing, Lu Xin hums, "In the moonlight of Datong, past and present meet and drift apart, numerous heroes come and go, the aroma of spirit wafting in breeze and dreams."