At first sight, the city of Datong, in Shanxi province, seems to have little to set it apart from other burgeoning, third-tier cities in the mainland's vast interior. Its downtown skyline is crisscrossed with construction cranes swinging back and forth. The streets below teem with compact, domestic-brand cars. Electric scooters jostle with hawkers' carts stacked with fried dumplings and peeled pineapples.
A closer look at those construction projects, however, reveals how this northern city is different. The structures taking shape have gently curling eaves ending in traditional figurines of stone. Everywhere you look, replicas of ancient monasteries and watchtowers are rising above the dust and bustle.
Datong was until recently known as China's coal capital but, long before that, it was the capital of a vast, ancient empire. While other mining centres vie to achieve more modern and efficient production, Datong is in a hurry to get away from its principal industry by rebuilding its past.
Locals attribute today's frenzy of Ming- and Qing-style reconstruction to the city's mayor, Geng Yanbo, who is pushing through a bold plan to refashion Datong's economy. By moving away from a reliance on a single resource, Geng wants to cash in on China's burgeoning travel industry by transforming Datong into a centre for tourism. He started on his post-industrial plan two years ago, with a controversial development of the city's most famous relics: the Buddhist statues of the Yungang Grottoes. Now he is poised to move into its final phase - the complete demolition and rebuilding of the old city in imperial style.
His vision is not without opponents. Replicating an entire ancient city will involve the forced relocation of thousands of residents. And Geng's plans have landed him in trouble with the central government on at least one occasion. Far away in Beijing, urban planners have grave doubts about the practicality of the mayor's grand scheme.
But Geng is a hero to many in Datong. For them, he is the mayor who has arrested their dirty old town's decline by giving it a new and clean direction.
Among his supporters is researcher Hou Tongsheng, who notes that the budget of the city's cultural department over the past two years has exceeded that of the previous 30 years combined.
