History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
In the northeast of Shanxi Province, there is a place called Datong County, which is now Yunzhou District of Datong City. This place is in the middle of the Datong Basin. It is connected to part of Yanggao County to the east, to the west by the Yuhe River to the city of Datong, and to the north by Zhenchuan and Huayuantun Townships in Xinrong District, Datong City. It is bordered to the south by Hunyuan County. The territory is about 45 kilometers wide from east to west, about 60 kilometers long from north to south, with a total area of nearly 1,500 square kilometers, and as of 2018, the total population is nearly 200,000.
Datong County has ancestors living in the Neolithic period, which is the distribution area of Yangshao culture and Longshan culture. During the Spring and Autumn Period, this area was inhabited by the nomadic tribes in northern China, and belonged to the Zhao Dynasty during the Warring States period.
Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, unified Kyushu, implemented the county system, divided the country into thirty-six counties, and the Datong area was named Pingcheng and Banshi. The Western Han Dynasty set up three counties of Pingcheng, Banshi and Pingyi, and the eastern Han Dynasty abandoned counties as counties. During the Three Kingdoms period, Pingcheng County was established, which belonged to Xinxing County in Jizhou at that time. By the Time of the Western Jin Dynasty, both ban and pingyi were merged into Pingcheng, which belonged to Yanmen County, which was then the prefecture of Hezhou.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the history of ethnic disputes began in the north of our country. The Xianbei established the Northern Wei regime. In the first year of Jianxing, Tuoba Yilu positioned Shengle as the northern capital, and designated the former old Pingcheng as the southern capital, which belonged to the Daiguo. In 398, Northern Wei Tuoba Jue moved the capital to Pingcheng at Gongshengle, until 494 AD, after Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he set up Hengzhou and administered Pingcheng. In the second year of Xiaochang, the change of the six towns, Pingcheng was abolished. The Northern Wei Dynasty established its capital in Pingcheng in 96 years, and during this period, Pingcheng was the political, economic and cultural center of the north at that time.
Northern Qi and Northern Zhou were once known as Northern Hengzhou, Heng'an Town, Dongzhou City, and Yunzhong County, and since then have been known as "Yunzhong". In order to avoid the name of Emperor Wen of Sui's father Yang Zhong, he changed the name of Yunzhong County to Yunnei County. During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the name was first Dingxiang, and then changed to Yunzhong County, Yunzhong County, and Yunzhou.
In the Liao Dynasty, at this time, Yunzhou was changed to Xijing, and at the same time, Datong Province, Xijing Province, was set up, which was considered to be a Liao capital. In 1044 AD, that is, the thirteenth year of Liao Chongxi, "Datong County" was demarcated at this time, and the name Datong County began at this time.
Jin, changed Xijing Road to Xijing Road, Datong County belongs to Xijing Road Datong Province. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Datong was still called Xijing, and in the 25th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1288), Datong Province was changed to Datong Road, and Datong County belonged to Datong Road, Hedongshan West Road, Zhongshu Province.
In the seventh year of Ming Hongwu,000, Datong Road was changed to Datong Province, which was subordinate to Shanxi Xingzhongshu Province. In the ninth year of Hongwu, it was changed to the Department of Political Envoys, and Datong County belonged to the Shanxi Provincial Envoy Department datong Province. In the Qing Dynasty, Datong County belonged to Datong Province, Shanxi Province, and later to Datong Province, Shanxi Province.
In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the county was abolished, and Datong County belonged to the North Road Observation Envoy. In the second year of the Republic of China (1913), Yanmen Road was established, and Datong County belonged to Yanmen Road in Shanxi Province. After the abolition of the road in the sixteenth year of the Republic of China (1927), Datong became a county and directly under Shanxi Province.
From 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, taking the then North Tongpu Road as the boundary, and dividing Datong into two parts: West Datong and East Datong. The current Datong County also belongs to the Eastern Datong at that time. In this place, there have also been county governments such as "Dayangtian" and "Dafeng".
In May 1949, after the liberation of Datong, Datong City was established here, which was under the jurisdiction of the then Chahar Province. In October of the same year, the eastern and western Datong counties were merged, and both belonged to the Yanbei region of Chahar Province. Three years later, in 1952, Chahar Province was abolished, and the Datong and Yanbei regions were returned to the jurisdiction of Shanxi Province. In July 1954, Datong County and Huairen County were merged to form Daren County. Until 1958, Daren County belonged to Datong City and was renamed Dajiao, and in 1960, the original Datong County was divided into ancient city districts. It was not until 1965 that the establishment of Datong County was restored and it was subordinate to the Yanbei Special Bureau. On July 1, 1993, Yanbei District and Datong City were merged to belong to Datong City. In February 2018, Datong County was abolished and The Yunzhou District of Datong City was established.