Qualla: Longwangtang Reservoir

Longwangtang Reservoir: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Yoshi Canopus, CC BY-SA 4.0. On one side of the dam, water stretches across 33.9 square kilometers of impounded river. On the other side, 3,000 cherry trees bloom each spring in a garden that draws visitors from across Dalian. The Longwangtang Reservoir is infrastructure that doubles as spectacle, a concrete wall 33.9 meters high and 326.6 meters long that separates the functional from the beautiful with surprising precision. Built during Japan's colonial administration of Dalian, the reservoir began construction in August 1920 and was completed on March 31, 1924, making it a century old and still serving the city it was designed to supply.

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Image: Yoshi Canopus | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longwangtang Reservoir: Colonial Engineering on the Longwang River

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ffggss, CC BY-SA 4.0. The reservoir sits on the Longwang River in Guanfang Village, within the Lyushunkou District of Dalian, the same area once known internationally as Port Arthur. Japan controlled this stretch of the Liaodong Peninsula as a leased territory following the Russo-Japanese War, and its...

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Image: Ffggss | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longwangtang Reservoir: Blossoms on the Dam's Far Side

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Yoshi Canopus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 5,000-square-meter Longwangtang Cherry Blossom Park occupies the ground below the dam's downstream face, transforming what might otherwise be a utilitarian flood plain into one of Dalian's most celebrated seasonal attractions. Over 3,000 cherry trees fill the garden, creating...

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Image: Yoshi Canopus | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longwangtang Reservoir: A Century of Service

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ffggss, CC BY-SA 4.0. Longwangtang Reservoir has now operated for more than a hundred years, outlasting the empire that built it, the war that ended that empire's presence, and multiple transformations of the city it serves. The Lyushunkou District has shifted from Russian naval base to Japanese colon...

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Image: Ffggss | CC BY-SA 4.0