Nine Dragon Screen in Datong

Opening time: 09:00-16:50.
Entrance fee: CNY10
Recommended Time for a visit: 1.5 hours

Dragon Screen is one kind of the screen walls which faces the gate inside a traditional Chinese courtyard. The function is to be used as the protective screens.  Dragon Screens fall into several categories, such as, One Dragon Screen, Three Dragon Screen, Five Dragon Screen, Seven Dragon Screen and Nine Dragon Screen. Within these categories, Nine Dragon Screen is considered as the most honorable one because “nine” is always linking to the imperial throne in China.

Built over 600 years ago, Datong Nine Dragon Screen is the largest and oldest glazed screen among the four renowned screens in China. The other three are respectively in Confucian Temple of Pingyao County, in Beihai Park and in the Forbidden City of Beijing. Datong Nine Dragon Screen is made up of 426 specially-fired colorful glazed bricks, with 8 meters high, 2.02 meters thick and 45.5 meters long. The screen can be divided in to three parts, the pedestal, body and roof.