Shenyang

Introduction

The capital of Liaoning province, Shenyang is a huge city of over 8 million people. It was once an imperial capital of the Manzu (Manchu) empire, and the Shenyang Imperial Palace is a UNESCO world heritage site. Aside from the Imperial Palace (which will disappoint anyone who has seen the Forbidden City in Beijing), there is little of interest in Shenyang, which is a rather grim and ugly industrial city.

Weather

Shenyang has a humid continental climate. Summers from June to mid-September see average maximum temperatures between 25 °C and 29 °C and lows between 16 °C and 20 °C. Winters from December to February have highs of around -1 °C to -5 °C and lows between -12 °C and -16 °C. April/May and September/October are by far the best months weatherwise for a visit, with usually dry and nice and warm weather without the heat, humidity or cold. Average precipitation is around 700 mm a year, nearly half of that falling in the months of July and August. Snow is common in winter.

Getting There

By Plane

Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (SHE) is the main gateway to Shenyang (and Liaoning for that matter). Like many airports in China it has seen enormous growth during the 21st century and although it mainly serves other Chinese airports, there are international connections to Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Pyongyang, Busan, Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Ulan Ude and Irkutsk.

By Train

Shenyang is the railway hub of northeast China and has connection to Beijing, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin and Fushun. The city is also served by the Qinshen Passenger Railway, a high-speed railway connecting Shenyang and Qinhuangdao. Work has started on the Harbin-Dalian high-speed passenger railway, which is expected to be completed in 2013 and will connect Shenyang with other major cities in northeast China: Harbin, Changchun and Dalian.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Shenyang has a new metro system, operating since 2010. It has a coverage of 40 stations on 2 separate lines.

Sleep

Learn

• Northeastern University
• China Medical University
• Shenyang Pharmaceutical University
• Liaoning University
• Shenyang University
• Shenyang Ligong University
• Shenyang Normal University

Keep Connected

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

China Post (中国邮政) is the official postal service of the People's Republic of China, operated by the State Postal Bureau of the People's Republic of China (website in Chinese only), and has more details about price to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. The Chinese postal service is very good. Remember that in more remote places usually only one post office in a city can handle sending international boxes or letters. Also many times it might be worth having the name of the country you are trying to send to in Chinese characters. Post offices have a striking green logo and can easily be found everywhere in the cities. They are mostly open every day (including weekends!) from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though small offices might have shorter opening times, while the bigger ones in central and touristic areas are sometimes open during evenings as well.

External Links

• Official Governmental Website