Xinghai Square

Asia's largest city square (built in 1997, 1.1 million m², Centennial City Sculpture with bronze footprints), views of Xinghai Bay Bridge, cross-sea bridge lights; adjacent to Xinghai Park (seaside bathing area built in 1909). Completed in 1997 to welcome Hong Kong's return to China, Xinghai Square claims to be Asia's largest city square at 1.1 million square meters; the Centennial City Sculpture at its center is laid out with thousands of bronze footprint plates, symbolizing the footsteps of Dalian's people over a hundred years, and ends at an open-book sculpture of blank pages; the square backs onto the modern skyline to the north and fronts Xinghai Bay to the south, with the Xinghai Bay cross-sea bridge lying across the water, its lights and the square's fountains reflecting each other at night. The square stretches from around Xinghai Park (an old seaside bathing area built in 1909); kites, rollerblading and sea breezes make up the everyday square life of Dalian locals; Metro Line 1 goes straight there, good for both 'sea views by day and lights by night', and it is the foremost symbol of Dalian's city image.

Getting there: Metro Line 1, Xinghai Square Station