Dalu Island Scenic Area

Dalu Island Scenic Area

Dalu Island Scenic Area is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a national defense education base.

Dalu Island is located in the northern part of the Yellow Sea, 19 nautical miles southeast of Dagushan in Donggang City, Dandong. Its western waters border North Korea and South Korea. Covering an area of 6.6 square kilometers with a main peak elevation of 189.1 meters, it is the largest island at the northern edge of China's territorial waters.

Dalu Island has a profound historical background. The First Sino-Japanese War naval battle of 1894 occurred in the southern waters off Dalu Island. Additionally, Mao Wenlong, a late Ming Dynasty general, once resisted the Later Jin forces here and left behind a stele to commemorate the struggle. There also stands a British maritime lighthouse built in 1923, a reminder of the humiliation from unequal treaties.

Since the reform and opening-up, while accelerating economic development, Dalu Island has organically integrated tourism development with national defense education. A series of well-planned projects have been implemented. With investments totaling over 40 million yuan, a 6-meter-tall statue of Deng Shichang and a stone monument detailing the First Sino-Japanese War naval battle were erected on the independent islet in front of the island. The tomb of Deng Shichang and the memorial for heroes of the war were expanded, the Ming Dynasty military commander Mao Wenlong’s stele pavilion was restored, the British colonial-era lighthouse on Mangshan Hill was repaired, and national defense education display windows and signs were installed. These features, along with subsequently developed attractions such as the coastal road, cultural square, West Beach Square, maritime water park, Sea-View Pavilion, flower-lined corridor, and Houkou Mountain Gate, form Dalu Island’s unique “identity card.” The island receives over 100,000 visitors annually, and since 1997, more than 1 million tourists have visited.

Over the years, Dalu Island has placed great emphasis on national defense education, making full use of available resources to organize diverse educational activities. Every Tomb-Sweeping Day, local youth and students are organized to hold memorial ceremonies at the tombs of Deng Shichang and the heroes of the First Sino-Japanese War, accompanied by oath-taking. Many tour groups also bring young people to the historic naval battlefield to pay tribute and reflect on the events of the war and the heroism of those who resisted foreign invasion. In 2007 alone, they assisted travel organizations in hosting over 300 bonfire parties, fireworks shows, and singing events with patriotic themes. The island has also held large-scale commemorative events such as the “Memorial Sea Ceremony for Heroes of the First Sino-Japanese War,” the “Centennial Memorial of the First Sino-Japanese War Naval Battle,” and the “Crossing the First Sino-Japanese War Strait.” In 2007, it collaborated with the Dandong Border Defense Detachment to establish a model village for “Loving the People and Consolidating the Border,” further expanding its influence.

In 1996, Dalu Island was designated as a “Youth Patriotic Education Base” by the National Working Committee on Children and Youth. In January 2002 and April 2007, it was respectively named a “Liaoning Provincial National Defense Education Base” by the Provincial National Defense Education Committee and the provincial government. In 2005, it was recognized as a “Liaoning Provincial Patriotic Education Demonstration Base.” It has also been successively titled a “National AAA-level Scenic Area,” a “National Advanced Unit in Civilized Village Construction,” and one of the “Top Ten Well-Off Villages in China.”