Dalian, Liaoning Province, China

🇨🇳 Dalian is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city. It is located on the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula. Liaodong is the southernmost city in both Liaoning and the entire Northeast. Dalian borders the prefectural cities of Yingkou and Anshan to the north and Dandong to the north-east, and also shares maritime boundaries with Qinhuangdao and Huludao across the Liaodong Bay to west and north-west, Yantai and Weihai on the Shandong peninsula across the Bohai Strait to the south, and North Korea across the Korea Bay to the east.

Today Dalian is a financial, shipping, and logistics centre for East Asia, However, the city used to be better known as "Port Arthur" and "Ryojun" (旅順) from the original Port Arthur, now the city's Lüshunkou district.

In 2012, Dalian ranked 82nd in the Global City Competitiveness Index. In 2006, Dalian was named China's most livable city by China Daily. Dalian is also one of the top 100 science cities in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is home to several major universities, notably Dalian University of Technology and Dalian Maritime University, members of China's prestigious universities in the Project 211, and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Economy The city has had a continuous annual double-digit percentage increase in GDP since 1992. In 2014, the city's GDP registered a 5.8% increase, reaching RMB 765.56 billion, while per capita GDP hit RMB 109,939. According to a nation-wide appraisal by the National Bureau of Statistics, Dalian ranks eighth among Chinese cities in terms of overall strength. The city's main industries include machine manufacturing, petrochemicals and oil refining, and electronics.

Agriculture and aquaculture Dalian was originally an agriculture and aquaculture-based area, which, after the opening of the ferry between Yantai and Lüshun during the early 20th century, began to be populated by the farmers and fishers of Shandong, across the Yellow Sea during the Chuang Guandong era.

Heavy, light and distribution industries Even before and during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the shipbuilding and locomotives industries were located in the city such as the companies which later became Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company and Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works (DLoco). After the WWII, Dalian became an important centre of the heavy and light industries, including companies such as Dalian Heavy Industry Co., Dalian Chemical Group, and Wafangdian Bearing Co.; and of the distribution industry, such as the Dashang Group.

Dalian Port is an important port for international trade. It has established trading and shipping links with more than 300 ports in 160 countries and regions of the world. There are over 100 international and domestic container shipping routes. A harbour for oil tankers (the largest by tonnage in China), at the terminus of an oil pipeline from the Daqing oilfields, was completed in 1976. Dalian is the 6th largest port in China; and according to AAPA world port ranking data, Dalian is the 8th busiest port in the world by cargo tonnage in 2012, and the 12th busiest container port in the world by total number of TEUs handled in 2013. Accordingly, Dalian is a major centre for oil refineries, diesel engineering, and chemical production.

Also completed in 1993 is a newer port called Dayaowan Port (大窑湾港; Dàyáowān Gǎng), on Dagushan (大孤山; Dàgūshān) Peninsula in the northern suburbs, specialising in import-export of mining and oil products. Together with the Dalian Railway Station, Dalian North Railway Station, Dalian International Airport and two major express roads to Shenyang (Shenda Expressway), Changchun (Changda Expressway), Harbin (Hada Expressway) in the north and to Dandong to the east, Dalian has been an important distribution centre.

Industrial zones Dalian has been given many benefits by the Chinese government, including the title of "open-city" (1984), which allows it to receive considerable foreign investment. The Development Zone was established in Jinzhou District, to which many Japanese companies, such as Canon, Mitsubishi Electric, Nidec, Sanyo Electric and Toshiba, followed by South Korean, American and European companies (such as Pfizer). In 2007, Intel announced plans to build a semiconductor fabrication facility (commonly known as a fab) in the Development Zone, Dalian. It is Intel's first fab to be built at an entirely new site since 1992. The facility began operation in October 2010. Dalian also houses auto-manufacturing plants for Chery, Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company, and BYD Automobile (a production base for BYD K9 electric buses).

Other zones in the city include the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone, Dalian Export Processing Zone, Dalian Free Trade Zone, and Dalian Hi-Tech Industrial Zone.

Financial and IT industry Dalian is the financial centre of Northeast China. There are the Dalian branches of China's five major banks: Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Agricultural Bank of China. Dalian City Commercial Bank is now called Bank of Dalian, which among other things handles processing of the Dalian Mingzhu IC Card for public transportation. Bank of Dalian has opened branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang, among five other cities.

Founded in 1993, Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) is the only futures exchange in Northeast China. The futures industry leaped forward in its development. Among its 19 listed futures products approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) are corn, corn starch, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, RBD palm olein, polished round-grained rice, linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), ethylene glycol (EG), ethenylbenzene (EB), metallurgical coke, coking coal, iron ore, egg, fiberboard and blockboard. 3 options are also listed for trading, which includes soybean meal, corn and iron ore options. In 2019, DCE achieved 1,331 million lots and RMB 68.92 trillion respectively in trading volume and turnover. According to the Futures Industry Association (FIA) of the U.S., DCE was 11th largest exchange in the world by trading volume in 2019.

Since the 1990s, Dalian has emphasized the development of the IT industry, especially in Dalian Hi-Tech Zone and Dalian Software Park in the western suburbs near Dalian University of Technology. Dalian High-Tech Zone is the base of high-tech industries, housing more than 4,700 enterprises, including 80 Fortune Global 500 companies. Not only Chinese IT companies, such as DHC, Hisoft and Neusoft Group, but also American, European, Indian and Japanese IT companies are located there, including Infosys, IBM, Dell, HP, Ericsson, Panasonic, Sony, Accenture, Oracle, Hitachi and Cisco. Nine professional business incubators are also located in the area, including the Hi-tech Business Incubator, animation and software incubators, with over 400 companies incubated. Currently, the "Lüshun South Road Software Industry Belt" Plan is proceeding, including Dalian Software Park Phase 3.

Tourist Industry Dalian is a popular destination among domestic tourists and foreign visitors, especially from Japan, South Korea and Russia. Its mild climate and multiple beaches as well as its importance in the modern history of China have attracted tourists. Some of the most famous beaches are Jinshitan Golden Coast (金石滩黄金海岸) beach, Fujiazhuang (付家庄) beach, Bangchuidao (棒棰岛) beach, Xinghai Park (星海公园) beach, Xinghai Bay (星海湾) beach, and Xiajiahezi (夏家河子) beach. In 2007, it was one of the three cities named "China's best tourist city", along with Hangzhou and Chengdu, recognised by the National Tourism Administration and the United Nations World Tourism Organization.