Port Lushun

Port Lushun is located at the south end of Liaodong Peninsula, facing the Huanghai Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west, about 24 kilometer south to Dalian downtown. It is a well-known tourist attraction because of the close relationship with Chinese and Asian history.

History

In Tang Dynasty (618- 907), it was called Shizikou (Lion’s Mouth) because the geographic importance on the road connecting the whole nation. The name was changed into “Lushun” during Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), representing a wish for "smooth trip". Due to its strategic military importance, Qing government built naval port, battery and dock, and set up Northern Navy to guard it. Known as Port Arthur in western world, it was devastated by wars, among which the Sino-Japanese War and the Japanese-Russian War are the most significant two. Both Russia and Japan built lots of military sites in Lushun, making it known as an "open air museum of historical and cultural scenery."

Main Scenic Spots

With rich natural sceneries, military sites and historical heritages, Lushun has become a National Key Scenic Spot, National Nature Protection Area, and National Forest Park, a famous historical and cultural area and an important naval port in Northern China.

The Island of Snakes

This is a small island lies about 25 nautical miles with an area of one square kilometers. There are seven ridges, six valleys, seven grottos, housing more than 13,000 snakes. With green hills, luxuriant forests, strange rocks and fine climate, the island is an ideal home for snakes which rely on eating birds.

Lushun Museum

Originally built in 1917 with an area of 25,000 square meters, the museum is a world-class museum specialized in Chinese history and Dalian’s local history. It is of a stately, elegant style of modern Europe and traditional china. The permanent exhibition is divided into two parts: exhibition of historical cultural relics and exhibition of local cultural relics. Among them, there are bronzes, ancient coins, paintings and calligraphies, mummies, silk fabrics, terracotta figurines and some foreign relics.

Former Site of Japanese and Russian Prison

The prison was built during 1902-1904 with 85 skookum-houses and a tow-storeys office building. During the Japanese-Russian War, it served as Russian military camp and ambulance. After Japan gained the war, they enlarged it into 253 skookum-houses, a kiln factory, vegetable plot, and 15 workshops. When the Pacific War happened in 1942, the prison once housed as many as 2000 persons with Chinese people in majority.

Cemetery of Soviet Martyrs

Covering an area of 48,000 square meters (57,409.4 square yards), the cemetery is the largest of its kind for a foreign nation in China. The Soviet soldiers died in the war of releasing the Northeastern China during the late period of WWII, the Soviet pilot sacrificed in the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, and the Soviet soldiers and their relatives died in garrisoning period from 1945 to 1955 are buried in the ceremony. It witnesses the victory of WWII and the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, and reflects the eternal friendship between China and former Soviet Union.

Memorial of Myriad Loyalists

It belongs to the mausoleum style of Qing Dynasty (1638-1912) to commemorate the nearly 20,000 unarmed Chinese people who died in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. The memorial is composed of four parts: Port Lushun before the Sino-Japanese War, captured Lushun after the Sino-Japanese War, the world-shaking bloodbath, and Memorial of Myriad Loyalists. When Japanese forces occupied Lushun they slaughtered the common people of the city for four whole days, only 36 survivors. In order to hide their guilty, the Japanese burned all the bodies. In 1896, after the Japanese retreat, corps of the Qing Dynasty built the Stele of Myriad Loyalists. Now it has been listed as one of the National Patriotism Education Demonstration Bases.