Datong is a famous old city in northern Shanxi Province.
  In history, it had been made the capital of Northern Wei (386--534), the second capital of the Liao (916--1125) and Kin (1115--1234), and "a town of strategic importance" in the Ming (1368--1644).
  Of great fame are Yungang Grottoes to the west of Datong, consisting of 53 caves with as many as 51,000 statues of Buddhas. The highest one, sculptured in the second year of the Xing'an reign of the Northern Wei (453), stands 17 metres high.

  Found an art gem of the Chinese civilization in the grottoes are group sculptures of flying Apsarases given the endowments of happy human beings as those in the Pure Land of Buddhism.
  Tourists are served by the Datong Hotel and Yungang Hotel.