Shenyang is the biggest city and historical capital of the Manchuria region, now mostly encompassed in Dongbei, Northeast China. It is now the capital city of Liaoning Province
This was also the home of the Qing Dynasty (locally Manchu Dynasty) which ruled all of modern day China, Taiwan and Mongolia for nearly 300 years before being overthrown by the Republic of China in 1912. The Qing Imperial Palace is located in Shenyang and is the second biggest in China, although it is a great deal smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Basic Travel Information
- Province – Liaoning
- Season to Visit – Any
- Route there – Train from any nearby city
- Duration: at least 2 days
- Recommended: Yes, especially if you are interested in History
My Story
I arrived in Shenyang from Dalian, still struggling to get used to the winter temperatures.
Luckily the hostel I found in Shenyang was a lovely place with excellent heating and exceptional company. They ran regular English classes there for local Chinese adults which I happily joined in with and had some fantastic conversations with the locals trying to develop their already deeply impressive language skills. I’d like to say I picked up some more Mandarin but I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen.
The Imperial Palace was the highlight for me. At this stage of my trip I had not yet been to the Forbidden City in Beijing so this was my biggest real impression of the imperial architectural style so far.
Even in hindsight I enjoyed it more than the Forbidden City. It may be considerably smaller but it was so much less crowded and more accessible. You could actually try to get a feel for what the original would have been like rather than just cringing at the number of people.
Plenty of the signs were in English and I tried to start getting my head around the history of the dynasties in China (still very much a work in progress).
I also got my biggest impression of how many of China’s historical sites have been completely renovated (or rebuilt entirely). This seems to be the style across the country and comes as a disappointment to westerners who typically place a lot of value in authentic originality. However, when almost all ancient architecture, especially religious sites were built with wood this is hardly practical for China. I suspect that the extensive damage to such sites during the Cultural Revolution also prompted this strategy of rebuilding in the original style.
When to Visit
Winter in this region is intense but absolutely the time to get the most special trip to the Northeast. Pack thermals, gloves, wind protection and many layers.
Spring, Summer & Autumn would all provide much better opportunities to explore the wider Liaoning province and engross yourself in the history of Shenyang
Further Information
These websites were my favourite sources of general information for this location:
Last Updated: November 2019
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