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Dandong

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Dandong
Chinese transcription(s)
 - Simplified 丹东
 - Pinyin Dāndōng
Location of Dandong in Liaoning
Location of Dandong in Liaoning
Dandong is located in China
Dandong
Dandong
Location within China
Coordinates (city(2410000)): 40°07′N 124°23′E / 40.117°N 124.383°E / 40.117; 124.383
Country China
Province Liaoning
Districts and Counties
Government
 - CPC Dandong Committee Secretary
 - Mayor Chen Tiexin
Area
 - Prefecture-level city 15,222 km2 (5,877.2 sq mi)
 - Urban 832 km2 (321.2 sq mi)
Population (2004)[1]
 - Prefecture-level city 2,409,697
 - Urban 780,414
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s) 415
Website http://english.dandong.gov.cn
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Dandong (simplified Chinese: 丹东; traditional Chinese: 丹東; pinyin: Dāndōng, Wade-Giles: Tan-Tung; previously known as Andong) 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.

Contents

[edit] Quick Facts

[edit] Landmarks

The city is across the river from Sinŭiju, North Korea. The two cities are connected by the Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge (中朝友谊桥, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 –25°F and the summer temperatures can reach 95°F. Winters 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.

[edit] Economic Situation

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.[5]

[edit] 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. However, this minority group is so acculturated into the Han majority that there remains no distinction between the two. The Hui make up the next most populous minority at 1.5%. However, a very interesting figure consistently heard is that there are fully 20-30,000 ethnic Koreans currently living in the city, which would place them as the second largest minority in the city (at around 2.16%+ of the total estimated pop. for 2004), but they are not officially recognized in the city’s census figures.

[edit] Infrastructure

[edit] 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.[3]

[edit] 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.[3]

[edit] 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.[2]

[edit] 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 Democratic People's Republic of 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.[4]

[edit] 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 Sinŭiju. North Koreans often gather close to the river's edge, waving to foreigners as they cruise by. There is a ferris wheel in Sinŭiju that tourists are able to see from across the Yalu River, probably built as propaganda. This is a highlight for tourists wishing to catch a glimpse of North Korea.

[edit] Administrative divisions

"Short Bridge" bombed by the US during the Korean War

Dandong is divided into 3 districts, 2 towns and one autonomous county  :

[edit] Friendship cities

Dandong is a Sister City with the following cities:

[edit] In popular culture

Dandong is featured in the video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction as the headquarters of the Chinese faction in the northern province of North Korea, though technically it is situated in China.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dandong China-Dandong Briefing-Population and Employment
  2. ^ a b "Dezan Shira & Associates". Dezan Shira & Associates. 2009. http://www.dezshira.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-08. 
  3. ^ a b c "China Briefing Business Reports". Asia Briefing. 2009. http://shopping.china-briefing.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=21. Retrieved on 2009-02-08. 
  4. ^ a b "China Expat city Guide Dalian". China Expat. 2008. http://www.chinaexpat.com/list/88. Retrieved on 2009-02-08. 
  5. ^ "China Briefing Guide". Dandong Municipal People's Government. 2005. http://www.dandong.gov.cn/. Retrieved on 2009-03-22. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

v • d • e
Liaoning Province
History • Politics • Economy
Sub-provincial cities
Hunan in China
Prefecture-level cities
Anshan • Benxi • Chaoyang • Dandong • Fushun • Fuxin • Huludao • Jinzhou • Liaoyang • Panjin • Tieling • Yingkou
See also: List of Liaoning County-level divisions

Coordinates: 40°07′N 124°23′E / 40.117°N 124.383°E / 40.117; 124.383

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandong"
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