"Datong was a city of about a million people, its industry mainly based round its large locomotive works and coal mining. It was also an old city that had even been the northern capital for a short time between 398 & 494 AD, but as I set off I wondered if there would be anything old left at all. I am glad to say it had not all been rebuilt, and I was able to find an area in the centre, as yet untouched by the bulldozers, which still contained some of the charm of old China.
 
I thought that in just a few more years this interesting area will probably also have been cleared away to be replaced by more of the same dreary developments as in other parts of the city. I feel sure that in years to come, the Chinese are going to regret what they are doing now to their cities, in the same way as we in England now regret many of our 1960's developments." - MH