Lianyungang

About Lianyungang

Lianyungang's name, the Port Connecting the Clouds, sums it up neatly: it combines Lian Island off the coast, the Yuntai Mountains rising behind the city and a harbour that has made it one of China's important gateways to the sea. Opened to foreign trade in 1905 as Haichow, it is now the eastern terminus of the railway land bridge that runs across Asia to Europe.

For many Chinese visitors the city has a more magical claim. Huaguo Mountain, the Flower and Fruit Mountain whose highest peak is the tallest in Jiangsu, is widely identified as the inspiration for the home of the Monkey King in the classic novel Journey to the West, complete with its own Water Curtain Cave. Nearby, rock carvings on Kongwang Mountain date back to the late Han dynasty.

Summer brings visitors to the beaches of Lian Island, joined to the mainland by a long sea dyke, while Donghai County inland is famous across China for crystal. Fresh seafood from Haizhou Bay fills the restaurants, and an airport and high-speed rail links connect the city with the rest of eastern China.