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[Ludwig]

Edited by Paladin

[Captain Yossarian]

I have lived in several cities in the northeast (Mohe, Jixi, Dalian, Dandong and several years in Changchun) and find Shenyang one of the most interesting. The Forbidden City there is quite spectacular - not a poor imitation of the Beijing one but rather a rival in terms of splendour. It has far fewer visitors so you can visit and feel like the whole place is yours to explore. Well worth the RMB50 entrance fee. The botanical gardens are simply stunning - probably the best park in China. You can take a train there, which takes about 20 minutes. There is also a new train museum just up from the gardens that is quite interesting.

The city itself is odd. People mix their si and shis like nan fangers do. There are far fewer foreigners than other large cities (and boy is SY large - it has the 4th largest population in China) so the 'hellos' are more common than in smaller cities like Changchun or Haerbin. It suffers from the lack of a defined city centre but I love the numerous bbq districts and the fact that thousands of restaurants have outside tables - that's not so common up north. Compared to Dalian, which so many people find dull, Shenyang is vibrant. The sheer number of bicycles in SY make it look like the China most people imagined before coming here.