The city of Datong, Shanxi province got official recognition as a "National Garden City" from China's Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry, on Jan 14, following an earlier honor, at the end of 2010, as a "Shanxi (provincial) garden city", which gave it the confidence to apply for the national status.

The "National Garden City" award goes back to 2004.

In recent years, Datong has followed a "Transformational development and green uprising" strategy with the goal of developing a more livable, charming city, and has increased spending on greening, giving it a newly added green area of more than 20 million square meters, and a per capita green area of 13,12 square meters.

The city has spent 5 billion yuan on Yuhe River scenic projects, to bring the amount of green on both sides of the river to 3.29 square kilometers. The city also put a great deal into its Zhijiabao Forest Garden.

It expects the "National Garden City" recognition to improve its status a great deal and attract even more investment, thereby promoting its overall development and economic prosperity.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw