Dalian History

Dalian has a human activity history of more than 17,000 years. It is located in the southern tip of Liaodong Peninsula, to the Bohai Sea in the east and the Yellow sea in the West. At present, Dalian has developed into an important port in the north China as well as the important trade, industry and tourism city. Since it was lies in the hinterland of northeast China, Dalian is neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer. It is known as the window of the northeast area, the pearl of north China and the romantic city.
 

In Ancient Times

As early as 6,000 years ago, the Chinese ancestors had developed the Dalian area. When the Xia Dynasty (21st century-16th century BC) was established, though with scarcely population, the Liaodong area had a close relationship with the Shandong Peninsula and was affected deeply. The Dalian area has run into the Bronze Age. With the Dazuizi Site as the representative of Bronze Age settlements, there scattered more than 80 sites. The wide application of the bronze has greatly improved the productive forces and expanded the production field. It is said that the third king of the Shang Dynasty was migrated form the Liaodong area to the Shangqiu prefecture, Henan Province. Because of his homesick, he went there and back between Dalian and Shangqiu, hence, opened the present route from Penglai to Dalian, which promoted the interchange of the economy and culture between the Dalian and the Shandong Northern coastal areas.

In about the 17th century BC, the Shang Tang perished the Xia Dynasty and the Dalian area has changed in to a state from the regional organizations. The present Shuangtuozi site in Dalian excavated many wheel potteries, which proved that the Yueshi culture in Shandong has influenced the Dalian area culture. In the beginning of Western Zhou (1046-771 BC) Dynasty, many stone sheds were found. A plenty of the skeleton and burial objects were excavated from the shed, which were believed to be the tomb stone in the Bronze Age. From the mining, the gridding, the transportation, the design and the construction, we can see the research value in the field of physics, architecture and aesthetics, which reflected the social form and the level of the production development in the Bronze Age. In the Spring and Autumn and Watering State Period (770-256 BC), the Emperor Yanzhou set the Liaodong Prefecture in the Liaodong area and since then, the Dalian area was belonged to the Liaodong area till the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Dalian area was belonged to the Andong Prefecture in Jili state, and during the Liao Dynasty (916–1125); it was under the jurisdiction 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 in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). In the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was in sparsely populated state because of the protection administration in the northeast. Till the 1880s, the Qing government constructed the loading bridges and fortifications with built in cannons and set up mining camps on the north coast of the Dalian Bay.
 

In Recent Times

In 1897, the Russian Empire succeeded in leasing the peninsula from the Qing Dynasty and began to build this city. At that time, the Russia designer wanted to build s city with the square as the main architecture, then he came to Dalian and named it Daerni, which mean a remote city in Russian. In 1905, the Japan conquered the whole city and named the city as Dalian in Chinese.
 

Post-World War II

With the unconditional surrender of Japan in August 1945, Dalian city gained its liberation in the same day. At the same time, the Dalian area was set as the Luda City. After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the Luda city was the municipality of the central government. In 1980, it was renamed as Dalian City. In 1984, the Chinese Government designated the city a Special Economic Zone. At the time, Dalian was China's largest foreign trade port. The city was upgraded from a prefecture-level city to a sub-provincial city in May 1994, with no change in its administrative subdivisions. At present, it is one of the 14 costal open cities. It was regarded as the opening window of the northeast China, the international shipping center in the northeast Asia, the international logistics center as well as the financial center of the Northeast Asia.