Huludao is in Liaoning, in Northeast China.
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Liaoning · City Guide
Huludao, a Ming Fortress People Still Live In.
Overview
Why Go
Xingcheng is one of four complete Ming walled cities left in China, a square 3.3-kilometre circuit built in 1428. About ten thousand people live inside it, so the streets carry shops and laundry rather than pass booths.
In 1626 Yuan Chonghuan held this wall against a Later Jin force using European-pattern cannon mounted on the corner platforms. Nurhaci withdrew and passed away eight months later. The platforms and a cannon are still up there.
At Jiumenkou the Great Wall crosses the river on nine stone arches, and the river bed beneath is paved so the water cannot undercut it. No other surviving stretch of wall was built this way.
Foundations of a large Qin and Han palace complex sit on the shore at Suizhong, looking out at rocks in the water. Emperors came here to see the ocean. A separate folk legend attaches the rocks to a grieving wife.
The Bohai shore from Xingcheng down to Dongdaihe is the nearest real sand to the capital on the Liaoning side, which is why the whole coast fills up in July and empties completely by October.
See
The full square circuit of wall with four gates, a 1428 drum tower at the crossroads, a Confucian temple and two elaborate Ming stone arches for the Zu family. Residents live throughout. A full day.
A wall section inscribed with the Great Wall as World Heritage, carried over the river on nine arches with the bed paved beneath. Visitors can walk out onto the paving. An hour from Xingcheng; allow two on site.
Excavated foundations of a Qin and Han imperial palace on the Suizhong shore, with the rock stacks it was built to face still standing in the water. Very little is reconstructed. An hour, and windy.
An island nine kilometres offshore from Xingcheng with Liao temple remains, fishing hamlets and quiet beaches, reached by ferry in the warm months. Boats stop running in winter. A day trip or an overnight.
A long shallow sand beach three kilometres from the old city, with Dongdaihe further south toward the Hebei line. Water is warm enough to swim from July. Off season it is empty and good for walking.
Springs used since the Tang on the edge of Xingcheng, now mostly hotel bathhouses. The combination of a Ming wall, a beach and a hot spring inside five kilometres is the reason to stay here.
On the Map
Approximate locations of the attractions above, across Huludao.
Eat
The boats land before dawn and the catch is sold inside the walls a couple of hours later: clams, razor shells, small crabs and flatfish. Restaurants on the same street will cook what visitors buy for a small fee.
The Bohai prawn season runs in autumn and the local ones are large and sweet, usually just steamed and eaten with vinegar and ginger. Prices swing hard with the catch, so ask before ordering by weight.
Pale, thin-skinned pears grown in Suizhong County with a protected-origin mark, picked in September. They are juicier and less grainy than the northern hard pears and the orchards sell straight off the truck.
Millet from the dry hills of Jianchang County, cooked into the thick yellow porridge that is the standard northeastern breakfast. The county sells it by the sack and it is what people take home from here.
Do
The wall is 3.3 kilometres round and visitors can do the full loop on top in about an hour, looking down into courtyards the whole way. Start at the south gate and go clockwise for the sea view.
When the river is low visitors walk out onto the stone paving under the arches, which is the sole place on the Great Wall where they look up at it from a river floor. Check water levels after rain.
Ferries run from Xingcheng in the warm months and take about 40 minutes. Sailings stop in rough weather and over winter, so check the day before rather than the week before.
The morning market runs inside the walls, which means visitors are buying that morning's catch in a Ming street. Go before eight; by ten the good shellfish is gone and the stalls are packing up.
When
Warm, dry and clear before the summer crowd, with the wall and the island at their peak. The strongest window of the year.
Beach season, hot and completely full, with Beijing and Shenyang families filling every room along the coast. Book far ahead or avoid.
Prawn season, pear season and empty beaches, with cool clear air. The other good window and the cheaper one.
Cold, windy and grey, ferries stopped and the coast shut down. Hot springs and the walled city still work, and there is nobody else there.
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Huludao is in Liaoning, in Northeast China.
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