Beautiful Dongbei

Northeast China, historically known as Manchuria, consists of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Provinces of Dongbei (东北三省).

This region was one of the earlier regions to industrialise in China. It is, on the whole, more heavily urbanised than most parts of China, largely because it was the first part of the country to develop heavy industry owing to its abundant coal reserves. Major cities include Shenyang, Dalian, Harbin, Changchun and Anshan, all with several million inhabitants. Harbin, more than any other city in China, possesses significant Russian influences: there are many Orthodox churches that have fallen out of use since the Cultural Revolution. Shenyang and Dalian, meanwhile, have sizable populations of Japanese and Koreans due to their traditional linkages.

Recently my wife and I went on a 8-day tour to Dongbei and visited cities like Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun and Harbin. There are many tourist attractions in this north eastern region of China. For instance, there is the Red Beach in Panjin, not far from the city of Dalian; Imperial Palace of the Manchurian dynasty in Shenyang; Changbaishan and Tianchi in Jilin. We even had a glimpse of China's first aircraft carrier docking in a shipyard in Dalian under refurbishing work.

 

When we were at Harbin, we went to the central street and Gougell Street, the most prosperous street in Harbin. It is also an architecture art gallery, with the most influential architecture schools in western-style architectural history, such as Baroque, Eclecticism and so on. Everywhere, we noticed the strong influence of Russian culture in buildings and parks. It is amazing to find a large church in the city which was built based on Russian style architecture. This is the St Sophia Orthodox Church which is the most impressive and attractive structure of orthodox churches and Russian style facades in Harbin. .

St Sophia Church

Russian church

 The large dome of the church building has a distinctive bluish hue. The church looks grand and magnificent from far. There are also quite a number of similar buildings around when we arrived at Volga Manor where we stayed one night and watched a Russian style show, performers were all Russians.  Every building in this manor is authentic Russian style and all the construction materials were imported from Russia.


The Changbaishan region is the most interesting part of the tour. Changbaishan was still covered with patches of snow even during the period of late March when we were there. However, the best part of Changbaishan is undoubtedly Tian Chi or Heavenly Lake. The lake was formed in the crater of Changbaishan, which is the source of  the Songhua, Tumen and Yalu Rivers. Changbaishan is also the cradle of Manchu, Korean and Han people.


The orthodox church

Tian Chi 天池 , the Heavenly Lake, is often covered with clouds. It looks just very mysterious, as the clouds obstruct the full view of the Lake for those anxious visitors from afar. The tour guide told us that 7 out of 10 times, the place is covered with dense clouds and the Lake is almost invisible to the eyes. So tourists only have 30% chance of viewing the magnificent view of the lake. We were also the unlucky ones (70% of the tourists) as the weather of that day was so bad that we could not even see our own fingers, let alone the majestic view of the heavenly lake, it was just disappointing.

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Russian architecture

Changbaishan - famous for Ginseng

Red Beach of Panjin

Manchurian Palace

 

Heavenly Lake 天池 on a clear day

Panaromic view of Tian Chi

The Red Beach scenic area of Panjin is a place worth visiting. From afar, visitors can see an endless stretch of reed marshes with a unique red hue. The place is like having a big red carpet spreading across the plain, hence the name Red Beach. The view is spectacular.

The Moonbay Wetland

A direct contrast to this red vision of the Red Beach is the Moonbay Wetland which is a huge field of reeds with the distinctive greenish appearance (green vision). It was relaxing to walk on raised platform and watch the reeds blowing in the wind. This stretch of vast green is indeed very soothing to the eyes.

The Red Beach