22nd October: Datong, China
It was bright and sunny across Datong this morning, although frost lingered on the rooftops which were visible from our 9th floor apartment. We decided not to rush out today and instead chilled and caught up with washing. We’ve got to make the most of those rare occasions with a washing machine! My favourite coffee brand also has a shop downstairs, so I ordered that on WeChat and popped down to pick it up. £1.90 for a giant oat milk latte and 3 cookies is winning in my book!
For the first time in China, we ordered a taxi. Didi are the equivalent of Uber here and it was £3 for the 20-minute ride out of town. Sometimes, it just makes sense to spend an extra couple of pounds for a chilled morning instead of another early bus. We passed markets along some of the very wide roads. At every junction, cameras flashed to capture the direction taken by each car. Before long, we were out of town and passing inactive coal mines. Some of these are now museums and memorials. The slightly bleak paragraph below explains why.
Datong suffered occupation by Japan during the second Sino-Japanese war (from 1937 until Japan was defeated at the end of WW2) and the area was seen as a key source of coal for the Japanese war effort. The occupiers forced locals to labour in mines without adequate equipment, protection, or food. As many as 155,000 people were buried, sometimes alive, in unused pits once they were no longer deemed useful. Whilst coal mining continued after the war for the benefit of China, its presence as the still-dominant industry in Datong leaves a complex haunting history alongside the pride in having been the engine driving Chinese industrialisation.
Our destination to the east of the city was the Yungang Grottoes, one of 267 AAAAA-rated attractions in China (the highest level). Astonishingly, 51,000 Buddhist statues are carved inside 252 rock caves. This masterpiece of Chinese Buddhist art dates from the 5th and 6th centuries, yet many of the sculptures have survived weathering, pollution, desert dust, and conflict. Much tasteful restoration has also been carried out and protective elements added in recent years for preservation. There are various designs in each cave and some of the larger ones are fronted by temples. These generally consist of a giant Buddha – the largest being 17 metres tall – with smaller figures in alcoves. The detail work surrounding all of this is also thousands of tiny statues. How any of it was done 1,500 years ago, let alone in an area with such climatic extremes is a testament to skill and ingenuity. The location appears to have been chosen because Datong was the capital of the Northern Wei, who were early adopters of Buddhism after it arrived via the Silk Road, who gave patronage for such works.
Fortunately, the site wasn’t busy today. It certainly wasn’t empty either but the sight of waiting areas for each cave gave an indication of the good timing of our trip. Instead of the chatter of tour groups, we heard the relaxing sound of coal freight trains rumbling through the valley at regular intervals.
We decided to skip the robot ice cream maker and jumped in another taxi back to Datong, just in time to visit the Nine Dragon Screen. This is the longest and oldest of the four surviving screens of this type left in China, having been built under the Ming Dynasty in 1392. Nine colourful dragons line its 45-metre length, intended as a powerful feng shui defence. Mountains, rivers, and trees fill the gaps, all reflected in a long pool to give the impression of flying and swimming dragons intended to ward off malevolent spirits.
After dark, the streets of Datong look great with the lights in the trees and on the redeveloped buildings. The neon somehow accentuates the traditional designs. There are some lovely streets to walk down, even if it doesn’t quite all add up. Dinner was a similar delicious and warming affair to yesterday at the same place, which was much needed as we’ve not been eating or drinking enough for the past few days in this cold weather. We’re both starting to suffer from sinus pain and have had constant headaches for days. I also had a rare nosebleed on the way back too. It’s as if we’re at 3,000m rather than 1,000m! I’m going to get a bit air quality technical here but, by my calculations, the internal relative humidity today is around 15% (you want 40-60% for comfort), which explains the dry lips, sinus pain, nosebleed, and static shocks. At these relative humidity levels, airborne half lives of viruses are longer (they dry out and float for longer but don’t desiccate) and the human respiratory tract is also more susceptible to infection, both increasing the risk of becoming ill. We plan to take it easy tomorrow now, as we both really need it. Once we leave to a lower altitude, damper, and warmer climate we should feel better.
Some final no-context Datong randomness for tonight. ‘Happy Birthday To You’ was playing in the shopping centre, as if it was a pop song, followed by cartoon sugar pop tune to the beat of ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm’.
