Datong, the city of dragon walls in China.163

Where is the City of Dragon Walls in China, Beijing? Xi'an? Luoyang? Datong is the second largest city in Shanxi, but in terms of history and culture, monuments and cultural relics, and tourist attractions, it is even richer than the provincial capital Taiyuan. It is impossible not to mention the dragon walls.
Datong is the city with the most dragon walls in China, but of course, this dragon wall refers to the ancient ones with a certain history, not the modern ones built. Datong has four dragon walls, one three-dragon wall, three five-dragon walls, one nine-dragon wall, and originally one seven-dragon glazed wall, so who would dare to deny that Datong is deservedly the 'City of Dragons'? Datong's Nine Dragons Wall is also the largest and earliest of its kind in China, about twice as long as the Nine Dragons Wall in Beihai, Beijing, built 300 years earlier, and one third as long as the Nine Dragons Wall in the Forbidden City, 400 years earlier, making it the "first dragon wall in the world". If you are in the 'City of Dragon Walls', time permitting, why not go and visit some of these glorious stone walls of the Dragon? We visited four of the nine Dragon Walls in Datong, the Three Dragon Walls at Guanyintang, the Five Dragon Walls at Shanhua Temple, the Five Dragon Walls carved in brick at the Wenmiao Temple and the Nine Dragon Walls at the Daiwang Palace, with the exception of the Nine Dragon Walls, which cost 10 yuan, but none of the other Dragon Walls required a special fee.

The largest dragon wall, the largest dragon wall and the earliest dragon wall, Datong is truly China's 'City of Dragon Walls'.

Not long after leaving the Yungang Grottoes, there is a sign pointing to Guanyintang, the only one of its kind in Datong, in front of which the three dragon walls are located.

The Three Dragon Walls are the illuminated walls in front of the Liao Jian Guanyintang gate.

Guanyintang is a key cultural relic protection unit in Shanxi Province.

The three dragon walls are 6 metres high, 1.2 metres thick and 12 metres long, with the lower part of the wall based on green stone masonry and carved with lions, flowers and walking dragons respectively.

The Three Dragon Wall is also the only double-sided glazed dragon wall in Datong.

The two central sides are each carved with three yellow four-clawed golden dragons, with the central dragon standing tall and majestic, the two sides symmetrical, with the dragon's head facing the centre, and the dragon's head set with fire pearls, in imitation of a wooden structure. The three dragon walls are unique among the dragon walls of Datong in their splendid colours and realistic images.

After seeing the distinctive Three Dragons Wall, we came to the Five Dragons Wall in front of Shanhua Temple.

The Five Dragons Wall was originally a wall in front of the gate of the Xingguo Temple in Datong, but was demolished and built in front of the Shanhua Temple in 1980.

The wall is 19.9 metres long, 7 metres high and 1.48 metres thick, with a colourful glazed front and a more plain back.

The wall is carved in relief with five four-clawed golden dragons, circling back and forth, tumbling up and down, in a variety of colours, in beautiful forms, finely carved and lifelike.

The five dragons are carved on the wall below the construction of the Sumeru seat, on which are carved snakes, rabbits, cattle, horses and more than ten kinds of animals, in different postures.

After seeing the Five Dragon Wall at the Temple of Perfect Harmony, we continued our search for the Dragon Wall in the City of Dragons, passing by the Drum Tower, an ancient city centre with a bell and drum tower, which no longer exists in Datong, but the Drum Tower remains majestic.

Coming in front of the Ming Dynasty Datong County Temple of Literature, now in front of the Datong First People's Hospital, on the street side is the only brick carving of the Dragon Wall in Datong's surviving dragon walls.

The dragon wall is a single-sided brick carving of five brick dragons with a diameter of 2.20m. The carver used exaggerated techniques to conceal the dragon's body amidst the clouds and waves, revealing only the dragon's head and claws.

If the previous dragon walls are to be seen or not seen, the Nine Dragons Wall in Datong is a must-see, as it is the largest surviving ancient dragon wall in China and the earliest to be built.

Built between the 25th and 29th years of the Ming Dynasty (1392-1396), the Nine Dragons Wall was originally a wall in front of the residence of King Dai, the feudal lord of Datong. The palace was built by Zhu Gui, the thirteenth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, after he was renamed King of the Dynasties. According to historical records, the palace covered an area of 179,400 square metres, about 40% of the size of the Forbidden City, and was built 25 years earlier than the Forbidden City.

Unfortunately, this grand and imposing building was destroyed by fire at the end of Chongzhen, and only the Nine Dragon Wall, the Guangzhi Gate and part of the Xiao wall remain.

The Dragon Wall in front of the Dai Wang Mansion is now known as the "World's First Dragon Wall", the largest and oldest surviving dragon wall in China, with a length of 45.5 metres, a height of 8 metres and a thickness of 2.02 metres, for more than 600 years.

The main body of the wall is made up of 426 pieces of yellow, green, brown, purple and blue coloured glazed components that form the nine colourful dragons.

There are more than nine dragon sculptures on the Nine Dragons Wall, you can see that there are dragons everywhere.

Next to the Nine Dragon Wall are a number of stone monuments that are supposed to record the history of the Nine Dragon Wall and the Daiwang Mansion.

There are a total of nine ancient dragon walls in Datong, Shanxi, making it the 'City of Dragon Walls' in China. As the Chinese people are the 'heirs of the dragon', the dragon is a sacred totem, and in an imperial society, a dragon wall is certainly not a building that can just be built.