A large, tall, "cross looking" statue, sits at its center. Surrounding is a rotary, which on Saturdays is filled with many wedding car processions. It is at a beautiful location, right on the water. Tall buildings border it, from convention centers, to businesses and KTV. The Beer Festival takes place here in the middle of July. There is small entrance fee, but it is worth the price. Inside you find many tents filled with entertainment: singers, dancers, and 200 kinds of beer from all over the world. You also can find strange foods such as duck heads and necks and whole rabbits. Many international people attend. (23 Bus 10-15 mins)

Olympic Square

You will always find a couple soccer matches underway,and kids rollerblading and riding trick bikes. It was fun just to watch. Underground, there is a mall filled with clothing stores, restaurants, and expensive sea cucumbers. Surrounding the square there are more shopping centers, and a movie theatre,Wanda . This theatre plays will play English movies at certain times. Its location is semi hidden from the 23 bus stop. For your first trip, I would ask a graduate student to show you the way.

Victory Plaza



Located in downtown Dalian, Victory Plaza is a great place to buy gifts. Lots of street vendors swarm the streets selling a variety of goods. Its basically where I bought all my presents for people back home. There is a great chopstick store and a market table with authentic Chinese scrolls. Bargaining is a little difficult here so get some good practice beforehand. Wandering around alone is a little dangerous, since you will probably get lost. Individual market areas branch off from each other, and seem to be never ending, so select a meeting area at the start. New-Mart, is a part of Victory plaza. It is a 7 story shopping mall that sells average to high priced goods. Its a stereotypical mall you would find in the US. The underground market , is a must go. It has two main sections, both accessible by staircases from at the street level. Each has multiple underground floors that sell a variety of goods in all price ranges. You can find top designer digs to fake jade. The lower down you go (in floor level) the cheaper the goods seem to get.The main floors arefilled with boutiques, clothing stores, jewelery stores and couples t-shirt stores. Others include an electronic and a floor filled with all knock offs and cheap plastic gifts.

Zhongshan Square



Go at night. Buildings that surround the Square light up. One had a huge screen that was advertising for the Olympics. We went on a Thursday and the place was still lively. In one section of the square people of all ages were following a workout instructor's dances moves. Some of us jumped in and joined the formation. We quickly picked up the moves and were dancing along with the usuals. Around the square there are additional little acts: some kids playing with num chucks, others playing musical instruments. It was entertaining just to walk around and watch them all. Maybe one night go and make an act yourself. (Bus 23).

Russian Street



Just a walk from Zhongshan Square. The Russian architecture stands out a mile away. Basically it just consists of one main road filled with cheap goods that you can find any where. However, it is worth it just to go see the buildings. Near the front entrance there is a great, but mildly expensive, Spanish restaurant, that loves to play Christmas music.

Xinghai Park



A rocky beach, filled with people, seaweed, and trash. We went, skipped some rocks and walked around. Originally we thought they had bungee jumping, but when we asked they said it was out of service. I would re-check next year, it supposedly is pretty cheap at this location. Also, there is an old amusement park. They rides look a little worn down, but still crazy fun. You can find a SeaWorld and a PolarWorld here as well. We never went, but you can get a student discount through DUT. Check out for the dog balloons. As you hold one, it looks like you are walking an actual dog, a pretty smart invention. (Bus 23)

We went to Shanghai towards the end of the summer. We met up with some people from Qingdao and the ones from Nanjing and stayed for about 3 days. It is important to know that things in Shanghai are a bit more expensive than in Dalian or Beijing, but nothing to worry about. This trip was completely funded by our own wallets, and so the group can decide to go to any other city in China.

It is unfortunate that Dalian is surrounded in water on the west, east, and south. For this reason, taking a 16-hour train around the Bohai Sea is not smart at all. People from Nanjing took a train for around 100RMB one way. We flew into Shanghai for about 600RMB one way through elong.com. You can fish around for cheaper tickets, but we were somewhat lazy. One member of our group found a return trip through ctrip.com for around 350RMB, and so we all took it. Airport fees and taxes escalated the price for about 250RMB more. Book your tickets about one week before the date to keep the price as low as possible since prices go up every day as the date nears.

Staying in hostels is the way to go. They are considerably cheaper than hotels, and provide many advantages. For once, the environment in hostels is very laid back since they are targeted towards backpackers that are just passing through the area. Most people staying there are around of college age and are looking to meet others. We paid 10 dollars per person per night for 4-person rooms in UCOOL Hostel. We could have paid less for 20-person or a bit more for more private rooms. I strongly advice you guys to book the rooms in advance; we used website hostels.com. There are many hostels to choose from, but try to get one located relatively close to The Bund since everything is within walking distance from there.

A line of buildings along the river that provide a very nice sky line at night. These buildings are just some houses of government, hotels, and banks that were built in the early 1900’s. These buildings are very beautiful since they are well lit at night and were built in old western architecture. The Bund also looks out to the Huangpu River, which runs down the middle of the city. An elevated walkway runs parallel between the river and The Bund, providing tourists to observe these beautiful buildings and enjoy the river scenery. There are a lot of street vendors that practically sell the same souvenirs. If you think they are nifty, get it since they cost no more than 4RMB each without bargaining. Across the river from the Bund you can find the Pudong New Area.

A collection of buildings with modern architecture. These buildings are located across from The Bund on the other side of the Huangpu River. You can find the Oriental Pearl Tower here, among others.

This museum portrays China as a whole. It is broken up in different rooms that display the development of currency, calligraphy, art, furniture, pottery, and sculpture throughout the centuries. This year was all about the Olympics, so they had a display on the Olympics during ancient times in Greece. Highly recommend if you want to learn about what China is all about. It’s free to get in.

This museum is also very interesting since it shows how Shanghai has developed during the years. Also, Shanghai is the host for the 2010 World Expo, and so they also have very nice displays for plans for bids from different countries. It shows the past and future of the city, as well as the present as look out of the windows.

This is a commercial street that starts from the Bund and heads west. You can find different shops along the street on the price range of any Nike or Adidas store in the US. There are also some westernized restaurants that are relatively cheap. Also, there is an underground market here. These kinds of markets are targeted towards tourists so you can get very nice souvenirs here. You can bargain here on all types of (fake) clothing, tea, figurines, toys, etc. I bought delicious jasmine tea for 30RMB/50g and someone else got (fake) soccer jerseys for 62RMB each, although you can get these for around 50RMB each in the silk market in Beijing.