Dandong ( , Wade-Giles:
Tan-Tung; previously known as Andong and
Antung) is a city in the Liaoning
Province
, China
.
It is on
the border between China and North Korea
, marked by the Yalu
River. Also at this point, the river flows into
Korea
Bay
. The size of the administrative city is
14,910 square kilometers; the urban city is 563
square kilometers in size and has 780,414
inhabitants. The administrative city covers around 2.4 million
inhabitants as of
2000.
The Hushan (Tiger Mountain) Great Wall, the far Eastern end of the
Great Wall of China, is located
here.
Dandong is
designated a major export production center in Liaoning
province. Dandong is a port city connected by rail with
Shenyang
and Sinuiju
in North
Korea.
Administrative divisions
Dandong is divided into 3 districts, 2 towns and one autonomous
county:
Geography
Dandong is
located on the Northwestern border of North Korea, sharing the Yalu River
as a respective boundary line with the city of Sinuiju.
It is
situated at the mouth of the Yalu River delta which converges with
the Yellow
Sea
, Korean Bay, and the
East China
Sea
. The city has therefore had a dynamic
history because of its strategic location for the northeast’s rich
natural resources and because of its convenient access to the
ocean.
The city enjoys a reputation as a great place to live because of
the moderate temperatures in comparison to the surrounding areas.
While the city is known for its pleasant weather, it is also home
to long winters and relatively cool summers. The winter
temperatures can dip down to -30°C (–25°F) and the summer
temperatures can reach 35°C (95°F). Winter usually begins in
October and goes to the end of March (5 months), with the most
severe cold only lasting around three weeks during December,
January or February.
History
Maps and artifacts suggest that the area has been settled since the
Zhou Dynasty. The
area became known as
Andong (安東), county in
1876. Andong, which stands for pacifying the
east, was so named to reflect the power projection that China had
over Korea at the time. It was occupied by Japan after the start of
the
first Sino-Japanese
War in
1894. During the
Manchukuo era it was the capital of
Andong Province, one of the fourteen
provinces established by Manchukuo. Then, in 1907, it was opened as
a treaty port. It adopted its present name on January 20, 1965,
which means “red east,” to avoid connotation of its previous name,
which was considered imperialistic by some. Recently, the city has
been gaining influence in this region of China because of its
market with North Korea and the government’s future plans to
develop the city into a special “Border Economic Cooperation Zone”
for export and import, in order to expand the country’s ability to
conduct trade.
Demographics
In the latest official census of 2000, Dandong’s total resident
population (which includes the districts of Zhenxing, Yuanbao, and
Zhen’an) was 780,414 people, while Dandong proper had a total
population of 2.4 million. In 2005, the resident population was
approximated to be 751,914 with a floating population of 176,926,
for a total of 928,840. However, the non-agricultural (urban)
population is said to consist of only 79.52% of the resident
population (597,930). It is unclear what the floating population
consists of or where they live, but it is suspected that most of
the migrant population is people from the country-side looking for
work, local and foreign businessmen, and students. In 2000, there
were 244,430 family households (with a pop. of 741,882) and 4,955
collective households (with a pop. of 38,532). The demographic
ratio of men to women was 99.52 males to every 100 females. Also,
81.61% of the population was above 15 years of age; thus, 18.39% of
the population was under 15 in the year 2000.
The ethnic
Han people make up approximately
87.6% of the city’s population. The
Manchus
are the second most populous ethnic group and officially make up
9.6% of the population; yet, other sources figure the Manchu
population to be around 30%, which reflects the historical
concentration of Manchus in this area and their subsequent
acculturation. The Manchu minority group has become so acculturated
into the Han majority that there remains little or no distinction
between the two, although a number of Manchu words have remained in
the local lexicon. The
Hui make up the next most
populous minority at 1.5%. Although not recognised by the city's
official census figures, there is a thriving Korean minority group
estimated at 20-30,000
ethnic Koreans
which would place them as the second largest minority in the city
(at around 2.16%+ of the total estimated pop. for 2004). A number
of signs and advertisements are in both Mandarin and Korean and
there are many Korean restaurants and shops as well as some Korean
churches, schools and other cultural institutions.
Economy
China handles roughly 40% of North Korea’s worldwide export trade
($1.58 of 4 billion USD) and “half of the bilateral commerce with
China goes through Dandong” which “imports $468 million [USD worth
of product], according to its
Ministry of Commerce.” Dandong’s annual
resident per capita wage income for 2004 was somewhere between
¥9,500 and ¥12,237 RMB and the city’s GDP was 3.77 billion
USD.Interestingly, the city had “5.86 million tourists” in 2004, of
which 16,000 of those traveled into North Korea; another 81,000 of
those were from overseas and pumped $27.54 million USD into the
economy. During 2004, “the total tourism income was 4.02 billion
Yuan [RMB],” and this was an increase of almost 33% from the
previous year.
Infrastructure
Road
From the
long-distance bus station it takes about 10 hours to get to
Beijing, four hours to Dalian and Tonghua
, and three
hours to Shenyang.
Railways
Trains
from Dandong to Shenyang are available several times a day with
night trains to Beijing, Dalian, Changchun
and Qingdao
. From Dalian, the train takes a slow route
of almost 10 hours.
You can also take the train to Pyongyang
, North Korea and Moscow
, with the
proper visas.
Air
Flights to and from
Dandong Airport
are limited, but one can always fly in/out of Dalian or Shenyang
and then take the train or bus to/from Dandong. The airport is
located 13 miles west of town and an airport shuttle is available.
Domestic
flights are available to Beijing, Guangzhou
, Qingdao, Sanya
, Shanghai and Shenzhen
.
Ports and waterways
The
Port of Dandong is located on
the right bank at the mouth of the Yalu River. It is bordered by
the Yellow Sea in the south and is separated from the North Korea
in the east. It was set up as a trading port in 1907.
Since large-scale
construction began in the mid 1980s, the Port, together with the
ports at Dalian and Yingkou
, has become an important distributing center in
northeast China.
Landmarks
The city
is across the river from SinĹiju, North
Korea. The two cities are connected by the Sino-Korea
Friendship Bridge
(ä¸ćśťĺŹ‹č°ŠćˇĄ, also called the China-Korea Friendship
Bridge). Another major landmark is Hushan Great Wall (虎山长城), which marks the
eastern end of the start of the Ming Dynasty
's extension to the Great Wall. Other interesting
tourist spots include: a museum dedicated to the "War to Resist US
Aggression and Aid Korea" (also known as the
Korean War) and Jinjiang mountain (锦江山) that is
now the city's biggest park, but used to be a Chinese army
lookout.
Places
Mock ferris wheel with "Short Bridge"
in foreground
Tourists can rent speed boats or passenger boats to approach the
border and get a closer look at the North Korean city of SinĹiju.
North Koreans often gather close to the river's edge, waving to
foreigners as they cruise by. There is a rarely used ferris wheel
in SinĹiju that tourists are able to see from across the Yalu
River. This is a highlight for tourists wishing to catch a glimpse
of North Korea.
Friendship cities
Dandong is a
Sister City with the
following cities:
References
External links
City ( )
- (1991)
, United
Kingdom
- (1988)
, North
Carolina
, USA
- (1986)
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