Qualla: Lushunkou, Dalian

Lushunkou, Dalian: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0. From a satellite, the feature that defines Lushunkou is impossible to miss: a near-perfect natural harbor at the extreme southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, its narrow entrance opening into a sheltered inner basin that looks more like a mountain lake than a seaport. That geography -- a harbor so well-protected it seemed designed by a military engineer rather than by geology -- is the reason five nations fought to possess this small piece of coast. China, Japan, Russia, the Soviet Union, and China again have each raised their flag over Lushunkou since 1894. Parts of it are still off-limits to foreign visitors.

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lushunkou, Dalian: The Port of Smooth Journeys

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Picture published to illustrate a book written by Angus Hamilton and translated in French by Léon Bazalgette, Public domain. Lushunkou received its name in 1371, when a Ming naval expedition sailed from Penglai in Shandong across the Bohai Gulf to attack remaining Yuan dynasty forces on the Liaodong Peninsula. The future Yongle Emperor, then commanding frontier defense, named the landing site Lushunkou...

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Image: Picture published to illustrate a book written by Angus Hamilton and translated in French by Léon Bazalgette | Public domain

Lushunkou, Dalian: Krupp Forts and Qing Collapse

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. In the late 1880s, the German arms manufacturer Krupp was contracted to build fortifications around Port Arthur after Chinese contractors, as one account put it, had "made an extensive bungle of the job." The fortified port first drew international attention during the First Sino...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Lushunkou, Dalian: A Decade of Siege and Sovereignty

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JesseW900, CC BY-SA 4.0. Japan attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur without declaring war on 9 February 1904, opening the Russo-Japanese War. The siege that followed was one of the longest and bloodiest of the early twentieth century, ending with the fortress's surrender on 2 January 1905. Japan gov...

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Image: JesseW900 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lushunkou, Dalian: A District Still Guarding Its Secrets

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Yoshi Canopus, CC BY-SA 3.0. Modern Lushunkou is a district of nearly 400,000 people, home to universities relocated from downtown Dalian and connected to Shandong province by the Bohai Train Ferry that has operated since 2006. The World Peace Park draws tourists to its western coast. Yet the city's southern...

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Image: Yoshi Canopus | CC BY-SA 3.0