"Anshan, Liaoning" Anshan by Katie&Jordi

Our favourite walk in Anshan

Yes, this is Anshan, the place we referred to as home for the most part of 2005. It is a typical Chinese city. Too big for western standards, too small for most of the Chinese people we have met.
They are sort of right, though. The downtown area is quite small and the rest are rows and rows of residential buildings. Being home to quite possibly the largest steel factory in China, it is not common to have a clear day here.

The only tourists destinations here are:
1) Qian Shan (click here to view), a nice little excursion out of town, where you can climb a few peaks, with interesting temples and relaxing views.
2) the Jade Buddha Palace, which contains the world's biggest Jade Buddha (carved in 1996). The tourist area around it is still under construction and closely resembles an old traditional Chinese complex. There was nothing there before, so apparently, there is no historical meaning to the newly constructed village.

Street dancing

Maybe it doesn't sound too appealing, does it? Well, just as there is more to the USA than the big lights of New York City or more to Spain than bull fighting, there is more to China than the Bund in Shanghai and the preserved hutongs of Beijing. There is a lot of common life in Anshan to be found: the parks, the street markets, the little restaurants... they are all full of life.

We recommend you to go and take a look at our travelogues.

After you do so, you can take a look at our other Northeastern China pages: the cities of Dalian, Dandong, Xingcheng, and Shenyang in Liaoning Province, the city of Changchun in Jilin Province, and the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.
Finally, you can also visit Inner Mongolia Province.

To go back to our Chinese main page, click HERE.

• Pros:Remote, lot of traditional Chinese life around.
• Cons:Pollution.
• In a nutshell:As China goes, only places like Anshan retain some mistery for a foreigner.