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Photo: Charlie fong, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Lodged precariously on a cliff-face, this monastery is one of the more remarkable sights in China: a complex of 40 rooms linked by mid-air walkways. It appears to be stuck into the side of the cliff, but is actually supported by stilts. It was built in 490 and renovated several times, including in 1900; much of the current structure dates from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Visiting is not recommended on rainy or snowy days due to the slippery ladders. The ticket checkers are supposed to only let 80 people in at a time but the monastery can be crowded as not everyone follows the same flow around. Stick to the walls!
The Hanging Temple, also Hengshan Hanging Temple, Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple is a temple built into a cliff near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China. The closest city is Datong, 64 kilometres (40 mi) to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because as a Buddhist temple it also contains references to the other two of the three Chinese traditional philosophies or religions (三教): Taoism, and Confucianism. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock. The monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight bake.
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恒山 Héng Shān
World Heritage Tentative list (UNESCO). This is the least religiously important of the 5 Sacred Mountains of Taoism.
大同土林, Devil City
Wind-eroded loess pillars and walls create a surreal landscape. Presents a beautiful scene at sunset.
应县木塔 Yīngxiàn Mùtǎ
This impressive pagoda is the oldest and tallest wooden structure in China, built in 1056 in the Liao Dynasty without any nails. It is located within a Buddhist temple, some of which was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. There is an active temple in the back built in 2001. Only the ground floor of the pagoda is open to visitors. Inside the pagoda, you can see a big Buddha statue.
大同博物馆
The second largest museum in Shanxi Province with numerous cultural relics and most of the local archaeological finds.
善化寺 Shànhùa Sì
Built in the Tang Dynasty, rebuilt in the Liao Dynasty, and then largely destroyed by war, the monastery was rebuilt in the Jin Dynasty under the supervision of the great Southern Song scholar Zhu Bian. The temple has four high-value ancient buildings: one from the Liao Dynasty and three from the Jin Dynasty. The mountain gate (Hall of Heavenly Kings), the Hall of Three Saints, and the Puxian Pavilion are Jin Dynasty buildings, while the Mahavira Hall is a Liao Dynasty building, one of the "Eight Great Liao Structures."
大同府文庙
Datong was the first city outside of Qufu to establish a place for worshipping Confucius. The current Confucian temple was built in the early Ming Dynasty, and its original features include the Halberd Gate, Dacheng Hall, Ancestral Hall of Local Worthies, Ancestral Hall of Famous Officials, Divine Storehouse, and Divine Kitchen. The Confucian Temple also preserves some relocated historical buildings such as the "Wild Goose Pagoda" and the glazed five-dragon wall.