Lüshunkou (Baiyu Mountain · Naval Port Park · Russo-Japanese Prison)

"Half of modern Chinese history": Baiyu Mountain Pagoda (a Japanese war-memorial tower of the Russo-Japanese War, overlooking Lüshun Naval Port—a natural ice-free harbor, the "gateway to Beijing and Tianjin"), Lüshun Naval Port Park (submarine visits), Russo-Japanese Prison Site Museum (built by Russia in 1902, expanded by Japan, the "Auschwitz of the East", where An Jung-geun was executed), Wanzhong Tomb (memorial to the victims of the 1894 Lüshun Massacre); 203 Cherry Blossom Garden (a sea of single-petal cherry blossoms in late April, the Lüshun Cherry Blossom Garden). Lüshunkou is called a distillation of "half of modern Chinese history": Baiyu Mountain Pagoda was the memorial tower the Japanese army built for its war dead after the Russo-Japanese War; today you climb Baiyu Mountain to look down on Lüshun Naval Port—this natural ice-free harbor commands the throat of the Bohai Sea and has long been known as the "gateway to Beijing and Tianjin"; in Naval Port Park you can tour a decommissioned submarine and feel the steel strength of the People's Navy. The Russo-Japanese Prison Site Museum, begun by Tsarist Russia in 1902 and expanded by Japan, is known as the "Auschwitz of the East"; the Korean patriot An Jung-geun was executed here, and the surviving cells and gallows are suffocating to stand before; Wanzhong Tomb mourns the victims of the 1894 Lüshun Massacre. In late April the single-petal cherry blossoms of the 203 Cherry Blossom Garden blanket the hills like snow—Lüshun's gentlest moment, which beside such heavy history makes peace feel all the more precious.

Getting there: Metro Line 12, transfer to a Lüshun bus / self-drive