Dalian: a Romance

By Mathew Klie-Cribb

With news of Shanghai Expat taking over Dalian’s expat website, I set off to spend the holiday weekend in Dalian.

On the tip of the Liaoning peninsula, up in the north, next to North Korea, Dalian is home to almost six million people. In its brief, 100 year existence (since 1899), Dalian has traded hands from China to the Japanese, the Japanese to the Russians, and the Russians back to the Chinese. Recently, Dalian has been getting more attention. In 2006 it was recognized as one of China’s top three tourism cities, and it has seen enormous foreign investment since it was declared an ‘Open City’ in 1984.

I set of to find why anyone would want to go to Dalian - What's in it for expats? 

On first impression it didn't seem like that great a tourist city. The industrial part of the city was just as dirty as any other Chinese city. And when I stepped off the plane I walked head first into an English speaking airport employee trying to rip me off. She wanted me to take a 100rmb private airport taxi to my hotel, when a regular cab only cost 30rmb.  

Later a scuba diving instructor told me Dalian was one of only three places in China where you could scuba dive because the water was clean enough for good visibility.

After touring some of the sights in Dalian, I realized why it was known as a romantic tourist city. Being on a peninsula, Dalian is surrounded by 1906 km of coast. It has numerous ports, marinas, beaches, and boardwalks. When the boardwalks aren't following a beach they are winding up a mountain to give spectacular views. In the heart of the city there is a huge forest with five mountain peaks: Jie Hill, Green Hill, Mt. Baiyun, Lianhua Hill, and Mt. Xida. At the Forest Zoo you can take a 45 minute gondola ride through the mountains. There is even an amusement park with rollercoasters, a fairest wheel, and bungee jumping.

But as an Expat, why would you want to move to a city that is trying so hard to be popular that in 1999, when they were having traffic congestion, they shut down the whole city for a year and built 13 new interchanges? Well, it's not about what you want; it's about what the company wants. And if they want you to move to Dalian, why not take advantage of how beautiful it is. Many different expats are being brought to Dalian for different reasons. Intel recently set up a facility, Maple Leaf meats is there, there are software companies, and all sorts of shipping agents drop in because of the ports.

  Charles W Ellis, the U.S. advisor to Dalian Ever Eight Cleansers Co., Ltd., estimated there were about 5,000 expats in Dalian.

The nightlife there is bumpin', just like any Chinese city. In my brief visit a new bar opened on the hotel strip. It looks like there's a lot happening in Dalian.

candyss   |Registered |04 - 07 - 2009 -- 11 : 37 Anyway, the article is good.

SlapHappy   |Registered |12 - 06 - 2009 -- 13 : 15 MattKC, Sorry if it sounded harsh, but the article sounded as if the intended audience was those who are NOT in Dalian. If it was posted on Shexpat, then fine...but you are writing for an audience that largely lives in Dalian! In that context, if you re-read the article, perhaps you might get where I was coming from..

MattKC   |Registered |09 - 06 - 2009 -- 17 : 49 Ouch, Thanks for the feedback guys. I honestly appreciate everyone's reaction to my writing. It's also funny how I spelled Ferris wheel. Also, I'm not getting paid. And I'm probably a lot younger than you think.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."