Dalian

Northeast China's port and resort city, on a hilly Liaodong peninsula coast. Russian and Japanese colonial-era architecture, beaches, seafood, and the cleanest air in the northeast.

Dalian was a Russian leased port (Dalniy) from 1898 and a Japanese leased port (Dairen) from 1905 to 1945. The colonial layouts survive in a way rare in Chinese cities: Zhongshan Square is the original Russian-era circular hub with twelve radial streets, and the surrounding blocks retain European-influenced public buildings — banks, hotels, civic offices — that lend the centre an air closer to Odessa than to Shenyang.

The hilly Liaodong Peninsula coast gives the city a dramatic geographic setting. Tiger Beach Ocean Park occupies a rocky promontory; Bangchui Island sits offshore connected by a causeway; the formerly restricted Lushun (Port Arthur) naval base, scene of the Russo-Japanese War siege of 1904–05, lies 40 km southwest and now admits visitors to the Lushunkou war cemeteries and the White Jade Tower.

Summer brings beach and seafood tourists from across the northeast and from South Korea and Japan — Dalian is the nearest major Chinese city to both. The rest of the year the city is quieter than its 7.5 million population implies. Mild-for-the-north winters and an absence of heavy industry produce comparatively clean air by northeast China standards. The regional seafood draws visitors year-round: sea cucumber, abalone, Dalian scallops and crab are sold at waterfront markets and in the restaurant districts around Xinghai Square.

The city also retains the only operational tram lines in former Manchuria — routes 201 and 202, running vintage rolling stock through the central streets — which function as a moving museum as much as a transit option. The Binhai Road coastal promenade runs 30 km along the Bohai Sea shore with views over the bay.