Seagulls rest on a float in the bay of Chenjia Village. (Photo by Chen Liang/China Daily)

With a 66.8-meter-tall tower, the 130-meter-high Baiyu (White Jade) Hill is the major lookout point in the town. The tower, built between 1907-1910 by the Japanese to commemorate 22,723 Japanese soldiers who died in the Russo-Japanese War, has become evidence of Japanese's war crimes in the area.

On top of the hill, visitors can get a bird's eye view of Lyushun Harbor. A large part of the harbor belongs to the Chinese navy. It is a great vantage point to watch navy ships and boats anchored on or cruising in and out of the harbor. If you are lucky, you might see a submarine surface.

On the outskirts of the town, Laotie Hill is the real tipping point of the Liaoning Peninsula and offers lucky visitors a view of the dividing line between the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The water of the Bohai Sea looks more or less yellow and muddy. Water of the Yellow Sea is more clear and blue.

On an extremely clear and bright day, one might see a belt on the water stretching south in the boundary of the seas. On most days, however, you cannot locate the dividing line because the water is not very different in color.

The views are beautiful, with fishing boats bustling in and out of a small fishing village at the foot of the hill and seagulls soaring up and down the rocky coastline. Make sure you stay until the sunset.

After enjoying the sunset, you can walk one kilometer from the hill to the entrance of the fishing village, where you can grab a meal of seafood at the restaurant, Old Captain.

Mixed fish braised in soy sauce, steamed sea urchins and jellyfish salad are some of the specialties of the restaurant. Don't order too much, because the serving size of the dishes will certainly surpass your expectation.

How to get there

There are many flights and trains between Dalian and major Chinese cities. It takes about one and a half hours drive from the airport to Lyushun and about 40 minutes from the Dalian train station to Lyushun. From Qingdao and Yantai in Shandong province and Tianjin, there are regular passenger liners to both Dalian and Lyushun. The Laotie Hill is 20 kilometers south of the town of Lyushun and the admission is 20 yuan ($3.23) per person. If you cannot find Old Captain Restaurant at the Chenjia village, call 0411-86218612.