The Modern Architectural Complex of Zhongshan Square in Dalian

The Modern Architectural Complex of Zhongshan Square in Dalian

The Modern Architectural Complex of Zhongshan Square in Dalian is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Modern Architectural Complex of Zhongshan Square in Dalian surrounds a large circular city center square with a diameter of 213 meters and 10 roads radiating outward. Most of the buildings were constructed between 1908 and 1936 (during the Japanese rule of the Kwantung Leased Territory), and the vast majority belong to important political and economic institutions representing Japanese influence, with the majority of their architects also being Japanese.

In search of a year-round ice-free port on the Pacific end of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Tsarist Russia forcibly leased the Liaodong Peninsula in 1898 and established the new city of “Dalniy” the following year. The city was planned with Paris as a model, featuring a central circular square with radiating roads, and government, post office, bank, and other institutions located around the square. However, due to the Russo-Japanese War, the plan was not fully realized. After Japan occupied Liaodong, it established the Kwantung Governor-General's Office in the occupied territory, carried out large-scale renaming of existing roads and buildings, and continued expanding the city. Until China regained control of Liaodong, the majority of the square and its surrounding original buildings have been preserved to this day, becoming one of the iconic landscapes of modern Dalian.

Protected area: within 12 meters outside the walls of each building.

Construction control zone: a Zone III construction control area within 18 meters outside the protected area.

Further reading:

· Seventh Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units of Liaoning Province

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units