Qualla: Lian Island

Lian Island: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NNU-10-24100117, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 6.7-kilometer sea dyke -- the longest in China -- connects Lian Island to the city of Lianyungang, threading across open water like a thread stitching the mainland to something wilder. The island is nine kilometers from east to west, its 7.57 square kilometers blanketed in forest that covers eighty percent of the landmass. It is the largest island in Lianyungang's Lianyun District and the only seashore tourist attraction in Jiangsu Province to earn China's AAAA rating, a distinction that draws visitors seeking something the province's flat coastal plains cannot provide: beaches, cliffs, and the clean blue water of Haizhou Bay.

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Image: NNU-10-24100117 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lian Island: Dashawan and the Beaches of Jiangsu

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LianIsland, CC BY 4.0. Jiangsu is not a province known for its beaches. Its coastline is predominantly mudflat and reclaimed agricultural land, which makes Lian Island's Dashawan beach genuinely unusual. Stretching 1,800 meters long and averaging 150 meters wide, Dashawan is the largest beach in the pr...

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Image: LianIsland | CC BY 4.0

Lian Island: A Boardwalk Between Bays

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LianIsland, CC BY 4.0. The Seashore Boardwalk runs two kilometers along Lian Island's southern coast, connecting Dashawan in the west to Sumawan in the east. Along the way, it threads past the Forest Park, a Peacock Garden, and fishing islands that dot the nearshore waters. Sumawan, also known as Valen...

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Image: LianIsland | CC BY 4.0

Lian Island: A Statue Facing the Sea

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NNU-10-24100117, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the island's highest point stands a six-ton bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping, designed by Professor Li Xiangqun of Tsinghua University's Statues and Sculptures College. The statue faces the sea, and the reason is personal. When Deng died on February 19, 1997, his wishes called f...

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Image: NNU-10-24100117 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lian Island: Beyond the Dyke

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NNU-10-24100117, CC BY-SA 3.0. Twenty-four nautical miles northeast of Lian Island lie the Qiansan Islands -- Pingshan, Dashan, and Cheniushan -- reachable by a two-and-a-half-hour yacht journey from the main island. These smaller, less developed islands offer a glimpse of what Haizhou Bay's coastline looked l...

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Image: NNU-10-24100117 | CC BY-SA 3.0