Nine dragons
In glazed tile.
xiquinhosilva — CC BY 2.0 · David Bacon — CC BY 2.0 · Zhangzhugang — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jeremy Reding from Seattle, USA — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Zhangzhugang — CC BY-SA 3.0 · David Bacon — CC BY 2.0 · Liuxingy — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Zhangzhugang — CC BY-SA 3.0
A screen wall of coloured glazed tiles on which nine dragons twist among waves and clouds, built between 1392 and 1396 in front of the mansion of Zhu Gui, Prince of Dai and thirteenth son of the Hongwu Emperor who founded the Ming dynasty; it is the oldest and largest nine-dragon wall surviving in China. It predates Beijing's two famous nine-dragon walls by more than three hundred years and is about twice the size of the one in Beihai Park; its dragons show in yellow, orange and purple against blue and green, and it became a protected national monument in 2001. Datong is nicknamed the «city of dragon walls» for the many such walls it has, this being the most famous, and a local tale says the prince saw a similar wall at his brother's palace in Beijing and wanted one larger still. Tickets cost CNY 10, or CNY 5 concession, since 15 July 2025, per the Datong city government's notice. It is a few minutes' walk from the Drum Tower and the Grand Mosque.
In glazed tile.
Yellow, blue and green.
In China.
Heyang Street, old town, Datong
It is the oldest and largest nine-dragon wall surviving in China, built between 1392 and 1396, more than three hundred years before Beijing's two; tickets cost CNY 10.
