Some 70km northeast of the city is this sleepy farming village just off the highway, set within the ruins of a bǎo (fort) that once served the Great Wall – one of more than 70 dotting the strategic plains north of Datong. Keep going through the village and you'll reach the Wall proper, which scythes eastwards through untamed canyon country. Opportunities for hiking and canyoning abound, but exercise caution, and take water. No public transport, but a return taxi should cost ¥300.
A farmer tilling fields beside the Wall told us that the government had earmarked their village for tourism; so far the road through the village has been repaved.
