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Even though China’s history goes back to 2200 BC, Dalian’s chronological record of events remains murky at best. The earliest mention of the area came in 108 BC when Emperor Han Wudi, part of the 400 year reign of the popular and productive Han Dynasty, established a shipping line between the Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula to the south. The next mention of Dalian came in 1371 when troops under the Tang Dynasty, coined the area "Lion Mouth" due to its relative inaccessibility.
Over the next 500 years, little was recorded of Dalian. Most of China’s military and cultural happenings occurred in and around Shanghai and Beijing. Dalian, meanwhile, remained in dormant isolation as a slumbering fishing village. It was first internationally recognized in 1856 during China’s Arrow War (Second Opium War) with Great Britain. An English gunboat guided by Captain William C. Arthur chugged into Lushun Harbor, just south of Dalian, and was so impressed he dubbed it Port Arthur. England’s acknowledgment of the area awakened the ruling Manchu government to Dalian’s military potential. In the subsequent years a series of forts were strategically garrisoned throughout the hills that surrounded Dalian Bay and Port Arthur.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1894, which detonated over claims to Korea, ended in wretched defeat for China. Under the harsh terms of the resulting Shimonoseki Treaty, China was cuffed with stiff indemnities and forced to surrender Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and both Dalian and nearby Port Arthur to Japan. However, seven months later, Japan, under extreme international pressure from France, Germany, and Russia, reluctantly ceded Dalian and Port Arthur back to China.
Russia, meanwhile, was desperate for an ice-free port during winter and covertly brokered a deal with China. In exchange for helping pay off China’s war reparations incurred during the Sino-Japanese War, Russia was allowed to "rent" Dalian. From 1898 through 1904 Russia, much to Japan’s vexation, occupied Dalian. It was during this stint that Dalian, or Dalny as the Russian’s renamed it, elevated from an innocuous fishing village into a major industrial center. Shipping, smelting, brewing, and timber industries mushroomed under Russian jurisdiction. The South Manchurian Railroad chugged into town too, connecting Dalian to the Trans-Siberian Railway and providing broader inland demands for its bounty of resources.
Prosperity snagged, however, on the thorns of battle. On February 8, 1904 Japan sneak attacked Dalian setting off the 20 month Russo-Japanese War. By war’s end, on September 5, 1905, Japan was on the victor’s side of the Portsmouth Treaty. The Russian loss helped fan the ensuing Russian Revolution, while Japan’s conquest upped it into major power status and, once again, accorded it dominion over Liaodong Peninsula. Japan occupied Dalian until 1945. During this time, it renamed the city Dairen, and followed Russia’s lead by augmenting its vast industrialization potential. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Dalian, under the terms of the Yalta Agreement, came under the joint control joint control of both Russia and China. In 1950, it, was renamed, yet again, Luda City.
In 1955, China was granted sole control over Dalian. Mao Zedong’s (Chairman Mao) Communist regime, however, was focused on developing China’s interior countryside, thus little attention was given to Dalian, setting off almost 30 years of stagnation. After Mao’s death in 1979, Dalian received immediate governmental attention. The name Luda City was dropped in favor of Dalian, its original name. In 1984, it was one of China’s 14 coastal cities declared open to foreign investors. Under this billow of exemption, Dalian thrived and rapidly emerged as northeast China’s main industrialized port through the production of petroleum, chemicals, fertilizers, machinery, steel and iron. Yet, unlike most other industrial nests, Dalian also focused on building a strong tourism base. As part of a beautification program the city began razing old buildings, repaving roads, and promoting its numerous beach resort communities. Today Dalian has 70 gardens, 24 beaches, 5 parks and numerous excellent hotels and restaurants. Its pervading cosmopolitan air has made Dalian now known as China’s "Hong Kong of the north."
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