The Royal Palace And Tombs Of Shenyang (瀋陽)
Posted On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at at 11:15 PM by Alvin
The province of Liaoning (遼寧) was once part of Manchuria (滿州) in ancient times; and it was from these lands where the Founder of the Qing Dynasty (清) originated - Nurhachu (努爾哈赤). In a nutshell, this Big Guy united all the tribes in Manchuria, outside the Great Wall (關外) - which was the lands located at the Northeastern corner of present-day China, the Dude then went on to defeat the armies of the Ming Dynasty (明) and established the Qing Dynasty that was to be the last dynasty before China became a Republic around 300 years later. After a pleasant 3 hours bus ride from Dandong (丹東), we arrived at the mega-city of Shenyang (瀋陽), the capital of Liaoning and we were very interested to see the UNESCO Qing palaces and tombs located in this big city. We visited The Shenyang Royal Palace (瀋陽故宮), one of the three Royal Tombs (清昭陵) as well as venturing out (5 hours bus ride !) to the fort city of 赫圖阿拉城 where Nurhachu (努爾哈赤) first established his armies and Headquarters and plotted the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. Be warned, Shenyang was huge and full of modern buildings and it could take hours to get from one place to another - we enjoyed it !
