Dalian(Capital of Romance in China )

 

 

 

 

Dalian of Liaoning province is one of the most important open cities in Northeast China. Known as China Romance Capital, Dalian, based on its strong economic power, better location, attractive natural environment as well as its multi-culture, has a high reputation and status in Mainland China and Northeast Asia. Dalian is an important coastal open city in China, and to a most degree, it is the economic engine of northeast China even northeast Asia.

Dalian is located in the southernmost area of Liaodong Peninsula(辽东半岛，a peninsula in northeastern China that extends into the Yellow Sea, between Bo Hai and Korea Bay) in Liaoning province. It is on the verge of the Bohai Sea at west and Yellow Sea at east. It is opposite to Tangshan, Tianjin and Beijing, and used to serve as the gate of Beijing-Tianjin Area. It indeed has an incomparable geographic location. It backs on the vast hinterland of Northeast China and part area of Inner Mongolia in the north, faces China’s Shandong Peninsula in the south and gets close to Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Far East Area of Russia.

 

 

Dalian at least has 17,000 year’s history since Human began to live and work here. Before Han Dynasty, it used to be administrated by Liaodong Local Government. In Tang Dynasty, Dalian belongs to Andongduhufu(安东都护府, East-Stabilization Military Viceroy's Office). In 19th century, Dalian was still a small fishing village named Qingniwa(青泥洼, Blue Mud Depression). One hundred years ago, Russian people begun to establish this city and initially named it Daruni, which means a far city or a city far away from Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1895, Japanese troops begun to invade China, but it was harmful for other aggressive powers’ interests. Under the intervention of Russia, Germany and France, Qing Dynasty Government bought back Liaodong Peninsula from Japan with a large expense. Hereafter, Russia bribed Li Hongzhang (李鸿章，a Chinese general who ended several major rebellions, and a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire) and forced him to sign the Lvshun and Dalian Land Lease Treaty. Dalian was also the major battlefield of the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo -Japanese War. Since then, Dalian was occupied by Japan and Russia for 50 years or so. In 1898, Russia and Japan begun to establish Dalian City in the place of Qingniwa(青泥洼, Blue Mud Depression).

As for its origin of name, some records show that it was the phonetic translation of Daruni, which was a Russian pronunciation, and the some unwritten thinking shows that the settlers of Dalian mostly came from Shandong province, and for holding money and something important, Shandong people preferred to carry a kind of cloth-made bag called Dalian(褡裢), so this city was called Dalian. On 15 Aug, 1945, Dalian at the same time was liberated as Japan announced surrender unconditionally.

 

 

Dalian is always the economic development leader and is always ranked the first place in economic development in Liaoning province. In the 21 century, the most prominent feature of Dalian economic structure is the dramatic growth of sunrise industry of Software and Information Service Industry. And such a new industry will become the base of future development of Dalian Economy. Choosing the internationalization of Software industry to be the development goal and centrally basing on Dalian Software Park, Dalian is officially approved and named to be China’s first and only Model City for Internationalization of Software Industry. Moreover, due to its excellent location, there are also a large group of companies or multinationals from South Korea, Japan and Russia, and also many workers and staff from these countries are working here even settling in Dalian. Dalian also has a better education environment and system a large number of higher research institutes, colleges and national-key universities are located here. Due to its better location, many students overseas from Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea are learning here.

Dalian is Chinese famous summer resort and the hot city for tour. It has the excellent natural and cultural environment. The climate in Dalian is also very good. Annually the average temperature is 10 Celsius degree and the frost-free time is as long as 6 months. Dalian is Chinese first batch of Excellent Tourism City. In Dalian, there are four wonderful scenic areas—Coastal Scenic Area, Lvshunkou Scenic Area, Jinshitan Scenic Area as well as Bingyufeng Scenic Area. Annually, Dalian International Fashion Festival, Firecracker-Fireworks Gathering for Welcoming Spring and International Marathon Competition are all the spotlights of Dailian travel.

 

 

100 years ago, a group of Russian architects and engineers who were all the French-culture lovers carried the urban construction blueprint of Paris and came to Dalian. They hoped to create an Oriental Paris in this land. Hence, a strong feature appeared in Dalian urban construction--- centering on the square, the streets and avenues extends to all directions. Dalian has many squares. In total, there are more than 80 squares in Dalian. Dalian not only has many squares but also has many culture performances. Greenbelt, pigeon, sculpture, fountain and so on are easily found on the squares but also Dalian has a group of elegant horse-riding policewomen, and this is the only group of policewomen on the horseback. Policewomen patrolling on horseback have become a sight to see in Dalian. The horse-riding ladies' wonderful performances during events like the Dalian Fashion Festival have won world-wide acclaim. Between performances, they patrol the squares and pose for pictures with visitors. Thus these policewomen are considered the most beautiful ladies in Dalian. Wherever they go they are warmly welcomed.　　

Thanks to the emphasis on urban construction, environmental beautification and environmental protection, Dalian has won a lot of global prizes such as Best Habitat Prize from United Nations, and One of Top-500 Global Cities in Environmental Protection. Dalian is also the excellent city for virescence, national sanitary city, national garden-like city, and national model city in environmental protection and so on. Dalian is also selected as the advanced city for environmental improvement in Asia-Pacific Area by United Nations, and also crowned as Excellent City for International Ecological Safety. Currently the greening rate of Dailian gets up to 42%.

Dalian has a convenient traffic system. The water transport, railways, highways and oceanic transportation as well as air traffic are all easily available. Dalian Cargo Port is Chinese largest food and oil transfer port and takes charge of 70% cargo transport and 90% container transport of Northeast China. Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport is a large-scale airport in China; hundreds of international and domestic airlines are opened,and it is the largest airfreight base in Northeast China.

 

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