Coal chemical industry

Datong has abundant coal resources, with known reserves of 38.1 billion tons, and is a world-renowned steam coal base. At present, Datong’s production capacity of coal is 100 million tons, its shipping capacity by highways and railways is 500 million tons, its capacity for coal washing and dressing is 60 million tons, for coal water slurry processing is 1 million tons and for coal-based activated carbon is 200,000 tons.  

Electric industry

With total power generation capacity reaching 12 million kilowatts, Datong is an important power generation base of North China. The 500 kV UHV transmission substation of Datong No. 2 power plant is the key hub of North China’s power grid which transmits the electricity from the western area to the eastern area by gathering parts of electric power from Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province. Datong transmits more than 29 billion hours of electricity every year. 

Equipment manufacturing industry

Datong’s equipment manufacturing industry is mostly concentrated in the Datong Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park and the old industry zone of the city’s west urban area. Datong Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park covers an area of 31.6 square kilometers and is home to 41 machinery and equipment enterprises above designated size, with total investment of 12 billion yuan (1.73 billion USD); they have attracted more than 5,000 high-level technical talents. Registered enterprises include China Nation Heavy Duty Truck Group Datong Gear Co., LTD, CRRC Datong Co., LTD and Shaanxi Automobile Group Co., Ltd. 

Pharmaceutical industry

Datong’s pharmaceutical industry is in rapid development with the pharmaceutical park of the Datong Economic and Technological Development Zone, which forms an industrial cluster of chemical raw materials and preparations, as its key. The annual output value of enterprises above designated size in the park is 6.021 billion yuan. The park is the country's largest production base for antibiotic drugs.

Culture and tourism industry

Datong is rich in tourism resources. Many ancient buildings, ancient sites, Yingxian’s Wood Tower and Mount Wutai Buddhist Holy Land form the north Shanxi tourist area that takes Datong as its center. Yungang Grottoes is one of China's three grotto art treasures and became a world heritage site in 2001. The Hengshan Mountain is one of five most famous mountains of China. There are skyscraping hills, ancient temples, pavilions and buildings, as well as inscriptions on precipices praised by ancient celebrities and poets, which make Hengshan a national key scenic spot. The Hanging Temple is one of the world’s “top 10 marvelous buildings”, and was praised as "the most wonderful sight of the country" by famous tourist Xu Xiake of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Huayan Temple is renowned as an art museum of the Liao Dynasty (907-1125).