Datong - Three World-Class Sights in One Day

Halfway between Beijing and Pingyao on our route was the city of Datong, home to one of medieval China's greatest monuments, the 1,500-year-old Yungang Grottoes. While the city proper may be described as a highly polluted and uninteresting industrial metropolis, its surrounding region packs enough world-class sights to fill one to two day's itinerary.



The logistic problem though is that the three major sights are somewhat far away from the city, all in different directions. Hiring a taxi (RMB 260-420 as of summer 2011, depending on how many sights) is well worth the time saved to fit everything within one day, especially if you can speak a few phrases of Chinese to tap into the driver's best restaurant recommendations!







So we pre-booked our taxi through email with a reputable company. The team of Pei Ge, Pei Shifu and Yu Shifu (speaks Chinese only; Email: bt6209@yeah.net, Cell: 13503528230, QQ: 825754066) has excellent feedback from the online community of Chinese backpackers (see Q&A in Chinese), and charges reasonable, standard rates for day- and multiday-trips. As of summer 2011 a 10-hour day-trip from Datong to Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple, Yingxian Muta, and back to Datong cost about RMB 420. Seeing Yungang Grottoes and Hanging Temple, the region's two most popular sights, cost about RMB 350. Hanging Temple and Yingxian Muta, which are somewhat closer together, cost about 260. Our trip, which includes all three sights PLUS driving us through a treacherous mountain road to Wutaishan for the night, cost RMB 700. In these times of rising gasoline costs (RMB 8 / litre) this is a reasonable deal.









1. THE 1500-YEAR-OLD YUNGANG GROTTOES



We started our morning with the Yungang Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a spectacular fusion of artistic styles between the Middle East, India and China back in the 5th Century. This isn't just a few statues in a cave, but a kilometre-long series of grottoes carved out of a cliff now containing 50,000 statues, some as tall as 5-storeys.







Official pamphlets won't allude to this, but the ancient artists behind these splendid grottoes were not precisely Chinese. The Xianbei people who carved out the grottoes were often described as "yellow haired" and "pale skinned" in medieval Chinese records, raising speculations that the largely Mongolic tribe contained at least some Caucasian ethnicity. It is no surprise that many of these early Buddhist sculptures hardly looked Chinese.



As many medieval Buddhist monks hailed from modern-day Afghanistan, some of the statues were given deep, Caucasian-like complexions that appear more Middle-Eastern than Chinese. The integration of Indian and even Hellenistic influences resulted in this rare relic at a time of rapid ethnic amalgamation in Northern China, about the same time as the fall of Rome in the Western world.







From the height of its glory as the dynasty's premier religious centre, Yungang Grottoes' significance diminished gradually over the next millennium towards its final abandonment and utter disrepair. Considering all the anti-religious movements, archaeological theft, vandalism and annual sandstorms endured for over a thousand years, the current state of preservation is rather fortunate. This could have easily gone the way of Bamiyan during the Cultural Revolution.







Some of the interior colours are so vivacious, even after 1,500 years of erosion by dust storms, that it's quite easy to imagine yourself inside one of India or Southeast Asia's rock-hewn temples, 5,000 km away to the south. For modern visitors it's difficult to visualize an ancient cultural cross-road to India right here in Northern China, in the middle of the traditional birthplace of Chinese civilization.







As sun-baked and erosion-prone as the semi-exposed caves may now seem, this was once the crown-sponsored temple of the Northern Wei Dynasty when Datong was the capital. Statues inside were originally protected under a series of roof extensions built into the cliff-face, though most of the wooden structures and even part of the earthen roofs have collapsed over the centuries. Now all that remains of the roof extension is a 4-level Qing Dynasty structure protecting grottoes No.5 and 6.







The provincial government currently has plans to extend the protective structure over a few more of the grottoes as a barrier against the annual springtime sandstorms bearing down from the Gobi Desert. Hopefully the governing body will get it right and avoid spoiling the authenticity of the scenery, though I'm not entirely optimistic considering how the government managed to screw up Wutaishan. And with the cost of entrance tickets rising almost every year, visit sooner rather than later if you can.







Yungang Grottoes are located about 30 minute's taxi ride northwest of Datong's city centre, though the stretch within city boundary seemed to be prone to traffic jams. Our taxi driver Yu Shifu picked us up at 08:00 and arrived at Yungang around 08:45, right around its official opening time. Though the actual grottoes took less than an hour for us, the rambling, brand new complex of souvenir shops and restaurants added at least another 30 minutes to navigate. Plan for a 2 hour visit to be on the safe side.









2. THE HANGING TEMPLE OF HENGSHAN



Advertised by Time Magazine as one of the world's Top 10 Most Precarious Buildings, the Hanging Temple (Xuan Kong Si) is another one of Datong's 1,500-year-old treasures and one of the most photographed sights of Northern China. This is an absolutely breathtaking spectacle that every visitor to Datong should see, though perhaps not everyone could summon the courage to enter.







Constructed at roughly the same time as the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is a brilliant piece of medieval engineering from the 5th Century. To the awed observer underneath, the temple seems to be supported dangerously by a few lanky wooden poles jabbed vertically into the already near-vertical cliff side. If you still can't imagine, think of an apple pie fastened to the side of your fridge by a few toothpicks underneath.







Except the toothpick-thin support was a rather late addition only 600 years ago, and could be removed entirely without throwing the temple and its army of tourists down the treacherous cliff. Ancient engineers ingeniously reinforced the structure through a system of crossbeams inserted right into the rock face, safely securing it against earthquakes and cliff erosion for the past millennium and a half. Even Li Bai, China's most famous poet, gave his approval over a thousand years ago with an oversized work of calligraphy that is now engraved at the bottom of the cliff.







For entrance fees as steep as the drop under foot (RMB 130 for a crowded 20-minute walk!), visitors get the chance to confront their own worst feelings of vertigo inside the small wooden temple with the vertical rock face on one side and a heart-stopping plunge to the valley floor on the other. I've been to another so-called Top 10 Most Precarious Building at Meteora, Greece, and this one was definitely scarier.



It's actually not as intimidating as it sounds -- you just have to turn off your intellect and stop questioning China's safety standards on the wooden planks and railings, and at the same time hope that the lady at the entrance doesn't let too many zealous tourists enter the structure at once. There is no turning back once you enter, as the route is marked out in a one-way loop of the multi-level temple. Backtracking would be even more dangerous as you would need to squeeze past the oncoming queue along the precariously low railings.







The Hanging Temple and the surrounding Hengshan area are currently included on China's tentative list for incorporation into Mount Taishan's UNESCO World Heritage Site, and you can expect the number of visitors to skyrocket ... and the entrance fee to further increase ... if it becomes accepted. Shanxi Province now has three UNESCO sites and five on the tentative list -- this just shows the incredible richness of cultural heritage at this often overlooked corner of Northern China.



A tour of the Hanging Temple took us roughly an hour, with enough time to wander around the cliff bottom (but not too close!) to find the best photo spots. It did take a long taxi ride to get to the Hengshan area though – taking about 2 hours from Yungang Grottoes (or 1.5 hours from Datong's city centre) in mid-day traffic. Our taxi driver recommended a good and inexpensive lunch spot near the temple, which I'll try to review in the next article.









3. THE LEANING TOWER OF ... CHINA?



Another hour-long taxi ride from the Hanging Temple took us to the least well-known of Datong's incredible works of medieval engineering -- the Yingxian Muta (literally Wooden Pagoda of Ying County). Officially named Pagoda of Fogong Temple, this place is so amazingly underrated that most Chinese citizens outside of Shanxi Province have never heard of it. Even less people know that it is not only the world's tallest fully-wooden structure at 67m (220 feet), but also one of the world's oldest wooden structures at nearly 1,000 years old.







Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it is also tilting perilously to the point that visitors are now restricted to only the first two levels. Compared to the world-famous Italian landmark, the Wooden Pagoda is actually 10m taller, more than 100 years older and, unfortunately, currently leans further at a rumoured 6.5 degrees. It should have already achieved international fame, except for its remote location on the Loess Plateau, 70km south of the closest major city of Datong.







Travelers venturing this far are rewarded with a close view of the astonishing craftsmanship of the oft-vilified Liao Dynasty, whose architects designed the massive structure entirely out of wood joinery without any metal nails or fasteners. Unfortunately the pagoda has been showing symptoms of major structural distress for decades, and despite heated discussions for the past two decades, experts still cannot agree on a single plan to save this 1,000-year-old relic from imminent collapse.



At the time of writing there seems to be a serious bid by the provincial government to fast-track the Wooden Pagoda as a UNESCO World Heritage Site candidate. Visitors can only hope that this will result in quicker action to start saving the pagoda for future generations.



It was 16:00 in the afternoon by the time we left Yingxian, en route to our stop for the night at yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Buddhist mountain community of Wutaishan.

Traditional Cave Houses of Northern China

When passing through the popular destinations of Pingyao and Datong, one very unique but often missed spectacle is the distinctive landscape of cave dwellings of the rural peasants. In this desolate land devoid of wood and other suitable building materials, local residents have perfected the art of carving underground housing out of their silty yellow earth over thousands of years.







Known in Chinese as Yaodong, these extraordinary cave houses typically consist of several semi-circular, interconnected chambers excavated out of vertical cliffs on the hillside. Along this 1000-kilometer stretch of the Loess Plateau from Gansu to Shanxi, an estimated 40 million people still live inside these traditional dwellings.







This rustic and symbolically Northern Chinese tradition has recently become a popular attraction in the domestic Chinese tourism market, which mainly focuses on the remote city of Yan'an where Chairman Mao's band of Communist rebels based itself out of a Yaodong community back in the 1930's. But unless you're particular interested in this so-called Red Tourism, spending a couple days just to travel to Yan'an and back hardly fits most itineraries.



But there is an easy and quick way to see an authentic Yaodong village in its original, unspoiled state -- simply head to Wang's Family Compound, which I assume is in your plan already if you're visiting Pingyao.







This rustic Yaodong village is ironically situated right next to the majestic Wang's Family Compound. Simply climb to the very top of the Compound and look downward towards the back, and you'll get this bird-eye-view of a Yaodong village in action. These may be common scenes in rural China, but note the simplistic three-chamber cave houses on the hillside forming this Siheyuan courtyard. This is one peculiar local custom you won't see anywhere outside of the Loess Plateau.







The more affluent may carve out an entire hillside of tens of Yaodong caves for a whole clan of extended family members. For instance Chairman Mao and his comrades lived in a 37-chamber group of Yaodong while leading their guerilla war against the Nationalists and the Japanese. If you want to find richest family in the village, simply look for neat, brick-lined facades and count the number of chambers.







Inside the caves the thickness of the walls provide excellent insulation against the region's scorching summers and snowy winters. Interiors characteristically consist of plastered walls and beddings placed on top of an earthen or brick hearth known as Kang, which provides a more comfortable sleep in a similar function to the Japanese Kotatsu.







The Yaodong tradition was so ingrained in the local culture that even the wealthiest Qing Dynasty bankers in Pingyao embellished their luxurious residences with Yaodong-shaped facades. Don't miss this unique architectural style if you're visiting Pingyao -- appreciate the false Yaodong in the bankers' courtyards, but head to Wang's Family Compound to see the real thing.

Ancient City of Pingyao - Part 5: Favorite Photo Locales

I must first clarify that I am not a photographer. Whenever anyone asks about my pictures I always maintain that I'm a traveler first, a food enthusiast second, and a photographer last. But I must admit that I do enjoy photography as a medium for capturing the essence of my trips, for my eyes and for my tastebuds.



Since returning from Northern China I have added the ancient city of Pingyao to my list of favorite destinations -- it's just impossible to leave without a few good pictures for the desktop. This article is a collection of some of my favorite scenery within Pingyao's Ming Dynasty city walls. If these pictures appeal to your taste for vacation destinations, there are plenty of similar locales in my trips to Northern China and West-Central Japan.

The Ming Dynasty city wall at dusk. Picture was taken on a dark afternoon just after one of Northern China's infamous springtime dust storms.

View towards the City Tower from the City Wall's South Gate. The 6 kilometre long perimeter of the City Wall is by far the best location for panoramic views.

Pingyao's two-storey skyline. Note the tall walls with inward-sloping roofs designed to keep dust storms out of the family courtyard.

One of the most picturesque Siheyuan courtyards I've ever come across. This was the inner-most courtyard at Weihoutai, one of Qing Dynasty China's most successful draft banks.

While the majority of tourists flock to the Draft Bank Museum at Rishengchang two doors down the street, the tranquil and ornately manicured Weihoutai awaits the few visitors venturing in. This is one of Pingyao's most underrated gems IMHO.

Peeking out the Xiulou (upper-floor) balcony of another Qing Dynasty draft bank, Baichuantong. Traditionally this was the invisible prison for the master's unmarried daughters, who would practice their embroidery by the balustrade until they were married off.

The highly symmetric roofline of Tianchengheng, yet another Qing Dynasty draft bank. By now you can see how Pingyao established itself as the proverbial Wall Street of Imperial China with its dozens of major draft banks, some of which opened branches as far as Moscow, Calcutta and Kobe.

A view from City God Temple's main performance stage, which curiously faced inward rather than streetside towards the public. Operas performed here were mainly for the eyes of the patron gods of Pingyao, and not for men.

The main hall of Confucius Temple and its collection of well-wishing amulets, laden with prayers to the Teacher of Ten Thousand Generations, for RMB 10 each, to ensure success in upcoming exams.

The 300-year-old City Tower overlooking the main thoroughfare of Nandajie. Despite its dubious reputation as an over-commercialized tourist zone, the main street is still utilized daily by residents as their path to the world outside of the walled city.

Some of the most authentic scenes of Pingyao are often sadly missed by tourists staying outside of the city. Locals come out at dawn to carry out their usual routines inside their ancestral hometown, before disappearing back into their Siheyuan courtyards before the daily onslaught of visitors.

An ornate sculpture of a Qilin motive at Confucius Temple. Like many other prominent historical figures, Confucius had his birth prophesied through the appearance of this mythical beast.

Intricate relief sculpture and stone plaque above a passageway. The Confucian teaching of Du Jing (trustworthiness and respectfulness) is centered above the Three Friends of Winter (pine, bamboo and plum), which in turn sits on top of the Three Stars of Good Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity.

One of the common sights in Pingyao is the locally popular roof charms in the shape of dragons. This would be a rare sight for visitors from nearby Beijing, who traditionally shied away from the usage of animal-shaped roof charms to avoid conflicting with the designs of the Emperor's own architects.

Imperial China's 2nd Grandest Residence - Wang's Family Compound

Within day-trip distance from Pingyao lies China's most extravagant Qing Dynasty residence after the Forbidden City of Beijing. Absolutely colossal in size and shrewdly preserved during the Cultural Revolution, this once-private complex has opened to the public only in recent years, and is still fairly unknown to foreign visitors.







Wang's Family Compound, or Wang Jia Da Yuan, has remained under the tourism radar for decades, under cover as a destitute farming commune on the Loess Plateau. Even today most Chinese citizens outside of Shanxi Province have never heard of it, and only in the past several years has it slowly become a popular day-trip for visitors to Pingyao.







Wang's Family Compound was once the greatest of the great Jin Merchant family compounds in the region, all within 2 hours drive from Pingyao. The clans of Qiao, Qu, and Cao all had their own fortified complexes, with the Qiao's being the most famous thanks to the filming of several high profile TV dramas and movies, including Zhang Yimou's Raising the Red Lantern. But in terms of size and grandeur, nothing can beat the immense fortress of the Wangs.







The provincial government is starting to realize these compounds' potential as the next major attraction after its trio of UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Pingyao, Wutaishan, and Yungang Grottoes. And they're well on their way to becoming the province's next World Heritage Site, after getting on China's tentative list in 2006. That puts them in the same category as the village of Dangjiacun in neighboring Shaanxi or famous watertowns such as Wuzhen in the Jiangnan region.







For Wang's Family Compound the rise to tourism stardom has not been painless. You won't read this in any official tourism guides, but until the mid 1990's the whole fortress-like compound had been inhabited by a commune of local farmers, transplanted here in the 1950's when the Communist Party wanted to make a socialist statement of the region's most grandiose capitalist residence. Factor in the nation-wide destruction of priceless historical heritage during the Cultural Revolution, and you'll start to understand the dark history -- and the miraculous preservation -- of this beautiful walled town.







A much lighter experience awaits most tourists however, mostly arriving on organized tours flanked by an official guide with official, government-approved scripts. Independent tourists are few and far between due to a slight inconvenience of public transportation, as I'll explain in the Transportation section below. But the bigger problem is the lack of promotion outside of the domestic Chinese market -- my copy of Lonely Planet China has just one paragraph on it for instance.







This lack of coverage has good and bad sides -- we didn't have to squeeze through hordes of international tourists through its courtyards, but also lacking were signages, in Chinese or English, on many exhibits. In fact the whole idea of independent self-guided tourism is so new to them that there aren't even any official tourist maps, in Chinese or any other language, on how to navigate the maze of 1,118 rooms.







Thankfully there were only 1,118 rooms remaining and less on display to the public, out of an estimated 8,000 during the heyday of the Wang clan in the late 18th Century. Even so navigating through the complex was next to impossible without a guide, and we devised an unconventional but effective strategy -- simply climb to the very top of the cascading fortress to survey the entire compound, and work our way down in the reverse direction.







Visitors enter the main gate into the eastern complex known as Gao Jia Ya, into a web of interconnecting Siheyuan courtyards stretching all the way up the sloping fortress. A broad brick-constructed bridge connects to the western, even larger complex of Hong Men Bu, where visitors can reach the very top of the fort for a spectacular panoramic view of the Compound and the Loess Plateau in the background.







But the best view at the top was a living picture of the Yaodong cave dwelling village behind the fortress. These are peasant farmers who, like millions others living on the Loess Plateau in Northern China, have made homes out of man-made caves for generations. Oblivious to the daily onslaught of curious tourists above head, kids chase the house dog and newborn chicks follow the hen around the courtyard as in any rural Chinese village.







The Wang clan however has long vacated for decades, displaced by the commune of impoverished farmers under the regime of Chairman Mao. But Mao and the Peoples' Commune are long gone now, and nostalgic slogans such as the above "Learning for the Sake of Revolution" can only be found at the Confucius Temple just below the Compound.







How the Compound miraculously survived the Cultural Revolution would be a long and fascinating story in itself. Ingenious villagers camouflaged magnificent sculptures inside dirt mounds and concealed intricately carved window sills with mud fillings, plastered with Chairman Mao slogans. While Chinese youngsters today cheerily strike their V-sign poses beside these priceless Qing Dynasty artifacts, the elderly surely remember the difficult battle in preserving their own heritage, especially in this remote corner of rural China.



So while you admire the stunning architectural details at Wang's Family Compound, be appreciative of the national treasures that have survived to this date in front of your eyes. Understand the dark history behind the senseless mass destruction of cultural heritage, and don't allow humanity to make the same mistake again.









TRANSPORTATION

From Pingyao's long distance bus station (outside of North Gate) there is only one direct bus per day, departing at 08:40 and arriving around 10:00, staying for 2.5 hours, and heading back at 12:40 towards Pingyao. That's barely enough time in my opinion, as the Compound is bigger than most visitors can imagine before entering the front gate. And that doesn't even include the Confucius Temple outside of the Compound. The public bus is also not cheap, at RMB 34 per roundtrip.



Another option is to take the local train to the neighboring town of Jiexiu (40 minutes), then transfer to the local bus to Wang's. We didn't try it, but that's a more flexible and cheaper option if you desire more free time at the site.







We took the third option of joining the daily van transport organized by the Zhengjia Hostel, for RMB 50 per roundtrip. Reservation is taken at the front desk and the van conveniently takes off right in front of the guesthouse, saving a trip to either the bus station or the train station. There is at least one departure per day early in the morning, but during our visit the demand was high enough to have a second departure at 11:30. The length of stay at Wang's depends entirely on passenger consensus, which for our group was 3 hours. One big plus was that the driver was quite willing to drop us off at the breathtaking Shuanglin Temple on the way back, since it's practically on the route.



And of course, the fourth option of hiring your own taxi for the day (approx RMB 400) is always there. This offers the additional benefit of dropping by other attractions along the way, such as the underground castle at Zhang Bi village or Mianshan mountain.







Whichever option you take, there is so much around the vicinity of Pingyao to keep the curious traveler occupied for four or five days at least. The combination of the Ancient City of Pingyao, Wang's Family Courtyard, and of course the deliciously rustic cuisine of Shanxi Province would make a great side-trip from either Xi'an or Beijing. Or if you can spare the time, combine the three for a grand tour of Northern China. Both your tastebuds and camera will be thankful.