About Us

Datong Museum was founded in 1958, and opened to the public in 1959. Affiliated with Datong Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, the comprehensive museum is a special body, committed to the cultural relics collection, preservation, research, dissemination, display, etc. In 2020, Chinese Museums Association designated Datong Museum as a national first-class museum. Nowadays, it is located in Yudong New Area (opening to receive visitors on Dec. 31, 2014), covering an area of 51,556 square meters and a total construction area of 32,821 square meters.

For the time being, Datong Museum has boasted more than 170,000 pieces of cultural relics, among which over 3,000 items(sets) are treasures. Themed as Tianxia Datong, the permanent exhibitions are curated in accordance with relics mirroring history, divided into four sections: Tremendous Changes of Dai, Northern Wei Capital Pingcheng, Western Capital of Liao and Jin, and Strategic Area of Ming and Qing. The showcases of exhibits are supplemented by plates, multimedia, models, scenario, touch-screen, interactive screens and so on, uncovering a whole historical development of Datong spanning from the Neolithic Age to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, presenting the prosperity when Datong acted as the capital of Northern Wei, western capital of Liao and Jin, as well as strategic area of Ming and Qing, featuring progress of ethnic integration, and consequent boom in politics, economy, military and culture, reproducing the scenario of living together, mutual promotion, and harmonious coexistence among multi-ethnic groups, fully demonstrating the regional cultural characteristics of ethnic mix. So far, Datong Museum has set up nine branches: Ethnic Integration Museum of Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Datong Revolutionary Memorial Hall, Ancient Copper Art Museum, Mingtang Site Museum, Northern Dynasties Museum, Kuixing Culture Museum, Pingcheng Memorial Hall, Liang Sicheng Memorial Hall, and Weibei Calligrapher Zhang Aitang House and Memorial Hall. Aiming at spreading the local culture, the nine spots adopt contemporary approaches of exhibiting to take a well-rounded representation of long-lasting history of Datong City.     

In recent years, Datong Museum has made prominent achievements in curating of exhibitions, social education, new technological collection management and application, development of cultural and creative products, etc. Three original shows by Datong Museum are respectively included in lists of the recommended displays on carrying on the fine traditional Chinese culture and fostering core values of socialism from 2019 to 2021, sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Relics. They are Red Commemoration: Cultural Relics Exhibition of Datong Modern Revolutionary History, Copper Shining Datong: Display of Ancient Copper Manufacturing Art, and Western Capital Charm: Cultural Exhibition of Ethnic Integration of Liao, Jin amd Yuan Dynasties. The thematic tourism project One General Retrospecting History, Nine Branches Recognizing Millennium ranked top hundred of National Cultural Heritage Travelling in 2021. Meeting: A Special Exhibit for Creativity was selected as one of the key recommendation projects of thematic displays on carrying on the fine traditional Chinese culture and fostering core values of socialism, sponsored by Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics in 2021. The social educational course Same Exhibition Different View, Same Heart Different Interest was honored with one of recommendation projects of the first elementary and secondary school model education of Shanxi. Datong Blue Eaves Tile was chosen as one of the key recommended cultural and creative products among Shanxi cultural relics protection units in 2021. Besides, Datong Museum was accredited as an advanced collective in Shanxi archaeological and cultural relics conservation work in 2021, scientific research base of Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics on preservation and research of ceramic relics, as well as Shanxi copyright demonstration unit.