Datong city wall in the sunset [Photo provided to shanxi.chinadaily.com.cn/datong]

The Datong City Wall is located in the urban area of Datong, Shanxi province. With its long history going back to the North Wei Dynasty (386-557), the City Wall is truly magnificent.

Since ancient times, Datong has been a place of great strategic importance, especially when in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it became the door of the country's capital, through the protective screen of Shanxi province, and a safeguard of the Yellow River Plain.

The current Datong City Wall was built in 1372, the fifth Honghu year of the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644). It is laid out in a square shape, with a total length of 6.5 kilometers, covering an area of 2.63 square kilometers. There were four gates along the wall when it was first built: Heyang Gate in the east, Yongtai Gate in the south, Qingyuan Gate in the west, and Wuding Gate in the north, but they have all now disappeared.