TA-T'UNG

Pinyin Datong, city, northern Shansi sheng (province), China. The city is situated at the northern limits of traditional Chinese settlement, standing just inside the Great Wall on a fertile plain watered by the Sang-kan River and its tributaries. During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the region was the headquarters for the eastern frontier command of the Han armies protecting the region against the militant, nomadic Hsiung-nu. After the 1st century AD the area was lost by the Chinese and was recovered by them only in the latter half of the 3rd century. In AD 398 the Toba founders of the Northern Wei dynasty established and maintained their capital there even when they controlled all of North China. The seat of their dynasty was finally transferred south to Lo-yang in Honan province at the end of the 5th century. The city of Ta-t'ung was walled in 421, the outer wall being some 10 miles (16 km) in circumference. Vast numbers of Chinese were forcibly removed from elsewhere in the North to settle the area. In spite of the logistic problems arising from having a capital far from the rich revenue-producing parts of the North Chinese empire, the city was of considerable size and splendour. In addition to its palaces and official buildings, constructed by the Wei royal family, who were pious Buddhists, the extensive Buddhist cave temples of Yn-kang were also built during that period on the western outskirts of the city. After the transfer of the capital, the city was sacked and abandoned. In the ensuing period it underwent many changes of name. In the early part of the T'ang dynasty (618907) it became the seat of Yn-chou prefecture. At that time it had only a scattering of Chinese settlers, and in the 8th centurywhen Ta-t'ung first appeared as the name of the principal army quartered in the areait was the centre of an extensive program of military colonization. In 947 the area was overrun by the Khitan people and once again became an important administrative centre. Under the Khitan (whose Liao dynasty ruled until 1125) and their successors, the Chin, the city was the western capital. Under the Yan dynasty (12791368) it was known as Ta-t'ung. With the establishment of the Ming dynasty (13681644) and the resurgence of a centralized China, Ta-t'ung once again became a major Chinese strategic centre, constituting a stronghold in the line of defense against the Mongols. It was again walled in the late 14th century. From Ming times onward it was incorporated into Shansi province. Ta-t'ung's growth as a modern city began in 1917 with the completion of the railway linking it to Peking and Tientsin. The line was extended westward to Hohhot and Pao-t'ou (both in Inner Mongolia) in 192021, after which the city was also linked with central and southern Shansi by a line to T'ai-yan. In the 1950s its importance increased with the completion of the western rail link with Lan-chou in Kansu province and Urumchi in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, and of the northern line to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and to Siberia. Ta-t'ung was also the centre of a local road network into Inner Mongolia; it became a collecting and commercial centre for the surrounding Chinese agrarian population and for the Mongolians in Inner Mongolia. Local industries include food processing, flour milling, and oil pressing; and the city is also a centre for grain, wool, hides, and textiles. To the southwest is a rich coalfield, one of the most productive in China. Ta-t'ung has become a centre for engineering industries and manufactures agricultural machinery and implements. It is also a large producer of cement. Ta-t'ung preserves many ancient buildings and monuments, some dating to the Liao and Chin periods. In addition to the caves at Yn-kang, the Shan-hua and Hua-yen temples are well known. To the north of the city is the large tomb of the mother of the founder of the Northern Wei capital. Pop. (1990) 798,319.