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Area being cleared; demolishing old brick houses; A prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of 1,040 metres (3,410 ft). It has a population of 3,318,057 at the 2010 census of whom 1,447,150 live in the built up area made of 3 out of 4 urban districts (City, Mining and Nanjiao). The town was founded as Píngchéng in 200 BCE during the Han Dynasty. It was important on the trade route into Mongolia and was capital of several northern dynasties. The city was renamed Datong in 1048 CE. The Yungang Grottoes are 16 km west of Datong. Datong is an old fashioned coal mining city but is trying to develop "substitute industries" such as machinery manufacturing, tourism and distribution, warehousing and logistics services. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/1/2012)