摘 要: | In the commercial center of the city of Datong, there is a bull made of bronze. Ensconced in a pedestal, the animal lowers its head and hunches its back, as if for self-defense or for an attack against any difficulty or enemy that may crop up. "It is the symbol of the people of Datong, and our spirit," a local proudly explained to me. The trust put on hefty animals by the people of Datong goes back to thousand years. There were different shapes of horned animals in bronze on both banks of the River Yuhe and River Shili, both of which run through the city proper. The local inhabitants believed that these animals could guard against floods, or at least mitigate the devastating consequence of the floods. And
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