The existing Datong City Wall is the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1372). General Xu Da was ordered to build a new town on the basis of the old city of Liao, Jin and Yuan, which is slightly square, with a length of 1.8km from east to west, 1.82km from north to south, a circumference of 7.24km and an area of 3.28km The city walls are all based on regular stone bars, slates and masonry, and are compacted with "three concretes" on the basis of the original city walls. The height of the wall is 14m, the upper width is 12m, and the lower width is 18m. Around the city wall, there are 54 watchtowers and 96 wopu. There are 580 pairs of buttresses on the four walls, representing the number of villages under the jurisdiction of Datong at that time. There are turrets at the four corners of the city wall and military platforms outside the four piers. There are four gates in the city, namely Donghe Yangmen, Nanyongtai Gate, Xiqingyuan Gate and Beiwuding Gate. There are towers above the four gates, and the moon tower, arrow tower, watchtower and turret stand at intervals. Outside the four gates, there are the urn city, the moon city and the moat. The city wall is tall and majestic, solid and steep, well guarded, and all kinds of defense facilities are complete. It is a famous town with distinctive features in the history of ancient military architecture in China. Because it occupies a very important position in the northern border defense, it has played an important role in many battles. Therefore, it has always enjoyed the reputation of "a prominent town" and "the key to the north".
In the sixth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, Datong City was severely damaged. In the Ming dynasty, ginger inlay was first removed and then rebelled. Dourgen led the army to attack Datong, which lasted for nine months. Later, because the city ran out of ammunition and food, Jiang's subordinates defected, killed Jiang, and let Dourgen enter the city. After entering the city, in order to vent his personal anger, Dourgen ordered a "massacre" and cut off the city wall by five feet. Since then, Datong City Wall has lost its former glory.
In 2008, Datong fully implemented the historical and cultural revival and ancient city protection project, and the ancient city wall of Datong was restored again. At present, the East City Wall and the South City Wall have been restored in accordance with the provisions of the Ming Dynasty and are open to tourists. After the restoration, the East Wall has an urn, a moon city, a suspension bridge, a moat, 1 tower and 12 watchtowers. The south city wall not only restored the urn and the moon city, but also related to the city and the east and west ear cities. There are 10 towers, 12 watchtowers and 1 watchtowers on the city wall. The restored ancient city wall is magnificent, especially at night, when the lights are on, the night view of the ancient city is particularly charming, and the colorful lights make the pavilions of the ancient city wall handsome and beautiful, and the outline of the stalwart is more attractive.