History of Dalian

According to archaeological discoveries, 500 million years ago, Dalian was an area of shallow ocean waters .It gradually turned into a land area. Approximately 6,000 years ago, our ancestors "Sushen" began to settle down here.

In 640, early Tang Dynasty, Dalian was called "Sanshan Pu" and later "Qingni Pu". Port of Lushun was called "Lion Mouth" because it was difficult of access.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, landed troops at port of Lushun in 1371. In commemoration of his successful expedition, he renamed the place as the current name "Port of Lushun", which literally means "smooth journey". Meanwhile, Dalian was called "Qingni Wa" which is now still the name of a downtown section near Dalian Railway Station.

On August 1, 1894, the Sino-Japanese War(1894-1895) broke out. Qing government lost the war because of its weakness and incompetence. Qing government was force to sign the humiliating "Maguan Treaty" and ceded Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan and Penghu islands to Japan. On May 4, 1895, under the pressure of Russia, Germany and France, Japan declared to "abandon the permanent occupation of Liaodong Peninsula". Qing government recaptured the lost two ports, Lushun and Liushu Tun at the end of the year.

In 1898, Qing government and Russia signed "Luda Land Lease Treaty", and allowed Russia to lease Lushun and Dalian Bay for 25 years. In 1899, Tsar Nicholas II ordered to build Dalian harbor(port of Arthur).

Russia and Japan, the two imperialist powers scrambled invasive benefits and came into conflicts with each other. In 1904, Russo-Japanese War(1904-1905) broke out. After the war, Qing government signed "Treaty on Three Northeastern Provinces Affairs upon Sino-Japanese Meeting" with Japan. Qing government recognized the special priorities in the Japanese-Russian treaty yielded to Japan by Russia. In 1915, Japan imposed "Twenty-one Items" on Qing government. As a result, Dalian and Lushun were under Japanese colonial rule for 40 years.

In 1945, the Soviet union, the United States and Britain signed "Yalta Agreement" demanding that Dalian turn inot an international commercial port, and Port of Lushun to be rent to Soviet Union as a Far East naval base. Shortly China and the Soviet Union signed "Sino-ussia Friendship Alliance Treaty", "Sino-Russia Agreement on Dalian Affairs" and "Sino-Russia Agreement on Lushun Affairs". On August 15,1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered and subsequently Dalian and Lushun were free from colonial reign.

According to "Yalta Agreement" and those documents signed by the China and Soviet Union, the Soviet military withdrew from Dalian on May 26, 1955.

After liberation, Dalian and Lushun remained as two separate cities and later combined into the City of Luda. In 1981, Dalian replaced Luda as the name of the city.