Dalian, China, an interesting unique Travel Destination on our Asian Cruise to the Orient

Dalian was first brought to international attention ass a result of Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95.  Having decisively routed the poorly armed and led troops of the Qing dynasty, Japan demanded economic concessions in Korea, cession of Taiwan, a substantial indemnity and occupation of the Liaodong peninsula, most specifically Lu-Da, of which Dalian was the prize.

Recognizing that Japanese occupation would confound peace efforts in the Far East, six days after the treaty's signature, Imperial Russia, supported by France and Germany, force the Japanese to relinquish possession of the peninsula.

Less than three years following Russia's rebuff of Japan's attempt to possess Dalian and the Liaodong peninsula, the Czar's ministers signed a 25-year lease with the Qing government, granting it not only Dalian but the entire peninsula. It also provided them with the rights to construct a railway from Harbin in central Manchuria to Dalian, thus connecting the port by rail to the Trans Siberian Railroad and European Russia.

The age of industrialization was finally arriving in China and of Manchuria.  Minerals, timber, water and many other natural resources became a prize in Europe's scramble for concessions.  Consequently, the region became dominated by foreign powers interested in developing rail traffic to better exploit their territorial and economic gains.

The Russians immediately began developing Dalian into the great commercial link between the interior of Manchuria and the outside world. Many Russian buildings remain in Dalian today.  In 1904, Imperial Japan, remembering its earlier humiliation at the hands of Czarist Russia, struck back in a bold and decisive manner.  Two days after breaking off negotiations meant to resolve existing disputes, Japanese torpedo boats attacked and destroyed Russia's Pacific Fleet at anchor in Dalian's military base, port Arthur.  The Russo-Japanese War lasted little over a year, with Japan achieving all its earlier aims, including the occupation of Dalian.

The development of Dalian as a port and railway terminus continued under Japanese control from 1904 to 19465.  The port served as a jump-off point for Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931. At the conclusion of World War II, Russian troops again occupied Dalian under terms agreed upon at the Yalta Conference of 1945.  The last Russian soldiers left in 1953.

Since that time, Dalian has distinguished itself as China's largest port and link to the natural resources of the country's northeast.  Among some of the sights visitors can see today are the city's former Stalin Square, the local Glassware Factory and the Farmers Market.

We arrived in Dalian in the morning .. it was cloudy but we could see that the sun was there somewhere

Some cool pictures Kathy took of the sun breaking through the clouds.
Pictures from our balcony aboard the Sapphire Princess.	Pretty normal looking port.	The first impressive building...no idea what it is though.
We took a bus tour of Dalian in the morning... these are pictures from our bus window for the most part.
It seems as though there are a whole lot of very big buildings everywhere we go in the Orient.
Lots of very wide streets as well.
	Yep UPS is everywhere
Then we arrived at the "Farmers Market .. only in this case we were in the fish section and it was smelly and slimy .. and well I was glad to leave there. (Kathy's words...I thought it was cool though.)
Capitalism lives!
Piles of shells.	Stacks of fish.
I wonder what happens to the fish they don't manage to sell?	Is that guy actually eating something...the smell was not conducive.	One word...yuck!.
Looks like perch to me.	Finally outside again...fresh air!	Looks like apartment living is the way to go around here.
Then we set off again through the beautiful city of Dalian
We saw quite a few park type areas.	And yes...this is a wall mart.
Fairly busy streets.	Quite a few trees on the streets of Dalian.	I don't know what this building was, but it was neat.
Oh wait!  McDonalds restaurant. LOL	We stopped at the Peoples square for a brief break.	Lots of Kite venders trying to sell us kites.
They were beautiful but not a good size to pack!!!	How do they know where we are going to stop?	Another view of the park.
	These street lights were everywhere .. they were to represent the acacia .. the official flower of Dalian	Bill needed to use the restroom .. thankfully I did not !!!! Could be worse...there is a roll of toilet paper.
Typical street scene.	And another.
Not all areas are quite so modern.	Here is Luke one of our tour guides.. a real cutie.  The guides were English majors in school who were practicing their English.	This was a really cool looking building in Dalian.
Then .. one of the highlights of the day .. we visited a Kindergarten school in Dalian.  This I believe was a private school, one of the better and more expensive ones.  They said the children begin to learn English at the age of 3.
They were so happy to see us, or at least seemed so.		This was the sandbox .. pretty nice.
	This Kindergarten had it's own zoo !!!	Birds
Peacocks	More birds	Pheasants
Chickens	Rabbits	Monkeys
Goats	Playground	The school put on a few skits for us with dancing and singing.
The MC's were adorable		They certainly were happy little kids.
	Claudia .. check out this teachers hair .. and she is Chinese :)
Remember he is in Kindergarten and he was good !!!		Enlarge this Picture and check out the second from the right with the white beard and eyebrows !!!
Now it is off to the other highlight of the tour .. a visit to a Chinese family in their home.
A number of individuals were marketing their wares on the sidewalks.	Looked like piles of some kind of shells	Vegetables and herbs etc.
Lots of corn-on-the-cob for sale on the sidewalks.	We are entering the Chinese families home...not much to look at from the outside...	Inside it was quite nice...very neat and very clean.
	This was our interpreter
	This was our Hostess with the interpreter.
This house was Immaculate !!	Us with the Interpreter and the Hostess
		The house was tiny but she used every inch of it
The ceiling was decorated.
Now we are off to the Friendship Store .. You learn fast that the Friendship Stores are the expensive places to shop in China.  They sell all kinds of stuff from clothing to drugs...lots of tea.
Jasmine Flower Tea
	As you can see .. all the tour companies took people to the Friendship Stores	This is a replica of a Ming Dynasty ship
In the middle of this round-about there was a statue of a Chinese junk.
A better shot of the toilet...don't know how it got down here.