Dandong in Liaoning Province of China A strange sightseeing spot where Chinese see North Korea

Hello, Bike around the worldTakuya SAITO @ Chalidermanis. Previously, when I resumed traveling from Japan, I moved from Japan to Korea, from Korea to China by ship. In ChinaDandongI will arrive at the border town with North Korea. Chinese people are looking at North Korea from a bridge destroyed during the Korean War and becoming a sightseeing spot. Dandong was a mysterious place where China and Korea, capitalism and socialism coexist. This time I tried to summarize the charm of that Dandong sightseeing. There are delicious Korean cold noodles here.

The location of China · Dandong bordering North Korea is here.

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The capital of Korea near SeoulIncheonI took a ferry from. This Incheon has a regular route to Dalian, Yantai, Qinhuangdao, Yingkou, Weihai, Qingdao, Tianjin and China. Dandong I was aiming was one of them.


When I look at the door, there is a Japanese display saying "Please do not touch other than staff." It seems that it used to be a Japanese ship in the past.


A cabin that can sleep together. I will leave Incheon in Korea in the evening and arrive in Dandong, China, the next morning, so I will reveal one night here.


It is this ferry, but when I got on there was a mysterious vacant room. "I wonder what it is", but when it came to night, the true identity turned out. I heard the sound of mixing jingles, jingles and tiles, so I went to see and played mah - jong. I saw that sight and realized that "Oh, I will return to China." When I ran China before, I saw a figure that encloses the desk everywhere, but I do not know which one is passionate about the shop's eaves. In this way the Chinese will learn things called bargaining.

The harbor cranes were all banzai and seemed to welcome their visit.


This is the ferry terminal of Dan East Port. But actually this is Dandong, not Dandong, but Dandong city (prefecture called in Japan)DonggangIt is. From here it had to run about 20 km to the city center of Dandong.



I stayed in Dandong for nearly 10 days. Unlike Korea, China can relax because prices are cheap.

A big river flows in Dandong.


Many kites swam in the river sky.


I also met a local charida.


Downtown area in Dandong city.


A monument of a band in a pedestrianized heaven.


"Sabae glasses". Fukui-kenSabae CityIs famous for the production of eyeglass frames, this shop seems to have attached this name because it deals with the manufacturer's products located in Sabae city. Thank you very much.


Women's clothing store.


One corner of the world's three largest supermarkets BritainTescoHad advanced.


There is also adidas.


And fast food KFC also has a store.


It is impressive that the local people were meeting with "It is in front of the statue of Mao Saoto in front of the station".


This is the square in front of the station.


This Dandong has a border with North Korea. The border isYalu RiverIt is separated by. .


There are two bridges in the Yalu River.


However, one of the bridgesKorean WarAt the time of the bombing it was bombed by the United Nations army, it has not been repaired, and it has reached the present without repair. Instead it was a historical heritage and a sightseeing spot as a place to look at North Korea again.

Yammongjiang Bridge. It is written that this stone monument was built by the Governor General of Japan in Japan. Dandong is a place deeply related to Japan.


The central part of this bridge seems to have been able to open and close in order to pass the ship.


Drive unit for opening and closing.


Is this the trace of debris stuck in the bombing?


A model of the bomb used for the bombing is displayed here.


There is really only halfway through this bridge, and only bridges left on the North Korean side. On the North Korean side, the Ferris Wheel could be seen and laughter was heard. But is the voice real? Chinese tourists also came up to this point and was looking at North Korea. What Chinese people think that the Chinese people who were abandoned the planned economy and enriched while being born as the same socialist state, looking at unchanging North Korea?


And this bridge connects China and North Korea. Chinese side is Dandong, North Korea sideShinju. This bridge isFuyoshi Chunichi AsahiIt seems to be called.


A train entered from China to China, leaving the container and returning to North Korea.


Sightseeing bus will probably enter from North China to North Korea.


Dandong is the biggest base to be responsible for 70% of middle-trade trade here. This middle-aged Friendship Bridge is a middle afternoon trade aorta. Not only that, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will also cross the bridge on a train and visit. The tracks are connected from Pyongyang to Beijing.

You can see North Korea across the river from China side. There is no appearance that the river in North Korea is developing and there is only a factory which extended several chimneys.


Even if you look a little away, an inorganic scene without exactly the same taste continues.


In the distance a rustic Yamano spreads out.


Looking back on the other side of China, it is crowded like this.


The left side is North Korea, the right side is China. No two would have thought that the two countries born as the same socialist state have undergone contrastive changes so far.


Actually, there was a place where I feel North Korea even closer than here. Beyond the barbed wire that was at the side of the road from the terminal where the ferry arrived to Dandong city district was North Korea. There are several Nakasu in the river of the Yalu River which is the border between China and North Korea. The ownership of the Zhouzhou was mixed in the middle of the Morning and it was North Korea territory, North Korea was at a distance that would reach if reaching the hand.

Beyond barbed wire is North Korea.


There was a figure of a person living normally here. Although it is commonplace to say it is commonplace, only bad images are entered in Japan. Among them, the visible fact that someone living in North Korea is felt very fresh


As it is close to North Korea like this, Dandong has Korean air. Some people actually live as Korean-Chinese. For Dandong, Korea was familiar.

At the river of the Yalu River, "I was wearing a chimachogori and how about a photograph?" I had business with tourists.


A sign of a supermarket written in kanji and Hangul.


There is also Hangul notation here.


You can eat Korean food in the cafeteria. Korean cold noodles were refreshing and tasty.


This is bibimbap.


I got a Korean souvenir.


During my stay I found time and also went to the Anti-auspicious Memorial Museum related to the Korean war on the hill of the city. "Anti" refers to resistance and rebellion, "beauty" refers to beautiful country, that is, America. "Aid" is support and assistance, "morning" is about North Korea. This memorial hall was depicting the Korean War from the viewpoint of the Chinese side who participated as a socialist camp.


Military vehicles used in the war.


Many pictures were on display.


This is also the state of the exhibition.


It was decorated up to the diorama of the battlefield.


Friendship flag from North Korea full of reds like China.


There was no helping feeling a sense of incompatibility with the word "Volunteer" that frequently appears in this exhibition. The meaning is a volunteer, but there is no such thing. It is a war that the Chinese Communist Party government intervened in command. My chest hurt as I heard from soldiers who lost their lives "I am volunteering and I did not die."

Outdoor has a military color full of athletic play equipment that children can play.


Is this a tool for military training?


It was a training instrument as well as play equipment here.


And a lot of military weapons were lined up under the blue sky. I have never seen such a large-scale one.


Machine guns and field guns are exhibited.


A radar car with a big net.


There was also a fighter aircraft.


There are even tanks.


The tank enters inside ... ...


It is likely to even actually fire.


Naturally, the boy was happy with the cacophony. If you are in Japan, you will not be able to do the same thing, but it seems that there are no particular problems in China.

From the place where this socialist color remains, you can see the city of Dandong. It was a sufficient place to confirm the momentum of modern China. This is a group of buildings spread across the main street.


A road extending straight to the Yanjiang River. I can see North Korea in the distance.


High-rise apartment in residential complex.


How many people live on earth?


The old building was broken ......


A new building will be made.


While this city is expanding, this is only one city in China. Dandong is the 70th counted from the top according to the population size of the Chinese city. China is said to have 100 million cities in the future in the future. The state of development of the Chinese economy like this was terrible.

In this way, Dandong was a marvelous place where both China and Korea were mixed capitalism and socialism. China shopping at a foreign supermarket and dining at fast food is located just beside North Korea. Even though both China and North Korea were walking the same socialism. Dandong is exciting in many ways and there is no mistake. Why do not you visit there if you have chance to go to China?

(Sentence / photo: Takuya S. Narou Charriderman
Cycling around the world for a bicyclehttp://shuutak.com)