Dalian
Dalian[a] is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China,[6] and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang and Harbin). Located on the southern tip of the Liaodong peninsula, it 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 northeast, and also shares maritime boundaries with Qinhuangdao and Huludao across the Liaodong Bay to west and northwest, Yantai and Weihai on the Shandong peninsula across the Bohai Strait to the south, and North Korea across the Korea Bay to the east.
Dalian
大连市
1899
17 April 1895
3 March 1898 – 2 January 1905
1905 – 15 August 1945
16 April 1955
7 districts, 2 county cities, 1 county
Xiao Shengfeng
Chen Shaowang
Wang Qiyao
13,743 km2 (5,306 sq mi)
12,573.85 km2 (4,854.79 sq mi)
5,766.2 km2 (2,226.3 sq mi)
3,169.2 km2 (1,223.6 sq mi)
29 m (95 ft)
7,450,785
540/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
5,736,383
990/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
5,106,719
1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Dalianese
CN¥ 117,850
US$ 17,141
6.5%
210200
0.86 – very high[3]
1,906 km (1,184 mi) (excluding islands)
大连
大連
Dalny (1898–1905)
Dairen (1905–1945)
"Great Connection"
Dàlián
Dàlián
Ta4-lien2
Daaih-lìhn
Daai6-lin4
Tāi-liân
旅大
Luta
Lǚdà
Lǚdà
Lü3-ta4
As of the 2020 census, its total population was 7,450,785 inhabitants whom 5,106,719 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of 6 out of 7 urban districts, Pulandian District not being conurbated yet.
Today, Dalian is a financial, shipping, and logistics center for East Asia. The city has a significant history of use by foreign powers for its ports. Dalian was previously known as "Dalniy"[7] (Russian: Дальний; Dal'nii), "Dairen" (Japanese: 大連), and "Lüda" or "Luta" (Chinese: 旅大; pinyin: Lǚdà). The city used to be better known as "Port Arthur" and "Ryojun" (Japanese: 旅順) from the original Port Arthur, now the city's Lüshunkou district.
In 2016, Dalian ranked 48th in the Global Financial Centres Index.[8] In 2012, Dalian ranked 82nd in the Global City Competitiveness Index.[9] In 2006, Dalian was named China's most livable city by China Daily.[10] It is now a "Beta - Global City" according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.[11] The large amount of port traffic makes Dalian a Large-Port Metropolis.[12]
Dalian is one of the top 40 science cities in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index, ranking 49th globally in 2023.[13] 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.
Etymology[edit]
Modern Dalian originated from Qingniwa (Chinese: 青泥洼; pinyin: Qīngníwā; lit. 'cyan mud swamp') or Qingniwaqiao (Chinese: 青泥洼桥; pinyin: Qīngníwāqiáo; lit. 'bridge over the cyan mud swamp'), a small Chinese fishing village. The Russian Empire built a commercial town after coercing a lease of the area from the Qing dynasty in 1898 and called it "Dalniy" (Russian: Дальний, romanized: Dal'nii — "a remote one" or "far-away", in reference to the town's location,[14]
rendered as Chinese: 达里尼; pinyin: Dálǐní) from 1898 to 1905. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Japan occupied the area as the Kwantung Leased Territory and renamed the city Dairen (Japanese: 大連/だいれん)[14] after the Chinese name for Dalian Bay (simplified Chinese: 大连湾; traditional Chinese: 大連灣; pinyin: Dàlián Wān) — a name in use since at least 1879. English-language sources called the city "Dairen" in this period (1905–1945), from Japanese.
In 1950, Dalian, back in Chinese control, merged with the nearby town called Lüshun (Chinese: 旅顺) (formerly "Ryojun" and before that, "Port Arthur") to form the city of Lüda[14] (Chinese: 旅大; pinyin: Lǚdà), a name (formed from the first syllable of each constituent's name) which was usually rendered as Luta in English during that era. In 1981, the Chinese State Council again renamed the city from Lüda back to "Dalian" (simplified Chinese: 大连; traditional Chinese: 大連; pinyin: Dàlián), effective 5 March 1981.[14]
History[edit]
Ancient[edit]
In the Qin and Han periods (221 BC – AD 220), the Chinese state expanded its territories into northern Korea through the Dalian region, then under the jurisdiction of Liaodong county.[14] During the Sixteen Kingdoms era (3rd through 5th centuries), the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo controlled this region. In the early Tang dynasty (618–907), the Dalian region formed part of Andong Prefecture in Jili state; during the Liao dynasty (916–1125), it was a part of Dong Jing Tong Liaoyang county. Dalian was named Sanshan in the period of Wei Jin (220–420), San Shanpu in the Tang dynasty (618–907), Sanshan Seaport in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and Qingniwakou during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).
Qing dynasty[edit]
In the 1880s, Jinzhou, the north of downtown Dalian, now Jinzhou District, was a walled town and a center for political intrigue and economic activity. The Qing government built bridges and heavily fortified the peninsula. Mining camps on the northern coast of Dalian Bay became the small town of Qingniwa (青泥洼) or Qingniwaqiao (青泥洼桥), near what became the downtown core of modern-day Dalian.