Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning Province and has a population of nearly 7 million people. A U.S. Consulate office is there. Shenyang is a celebrated old city with more than 2,000 years of history which can be traced back to Warring States Period (476 BC – 221 BC). It is the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The Shenyang Imperial Palace is second only to the Forbidden City in Beijing. I also visited the North Mausoleum along with some of my students who live in Shenyang. This tomb was built in 1643 and is located in a beautiful park. Another major site visited in Shenyang was the 9-18 Museum which details the history of the Japanese invasion of China through Shenyang (Manchuria) in 1937. The museum is free and quite extensive. Finally, we visited the preserved home of Marshall Zhang, one of the famous generals of modern China. He had sided with Chiang Kai-Shek, however, prior to WWII and he helped to lead the Nationalist troops against Mao. Marshall Zhang was party to the abduction of Chiang Kai-Shek in Xi’an in 1936 and forced Chiang Kai-Shek to stop fighting Mao and to join with the Communist forces to fight the Japanese. Because of this Chiang had Zhang arrested and he was taken to Taiwan with the Nationalist forces and held under house arrest for 50 years. Zhang was finally released and he lived the last few years of his life with his wife in Hawaii. Zhang was a Christian and many aspects of the museum showed his Christian faith. Interesting, since he had two political/business opponents assassinated during a dinner party in front of the other guests.
A day trip from Shenyang to Liaoyang gave me another opportunity to see a beautiful Buddhist Temple. The pictures don’t do justice to the huge Buddha statue. Each finger is the size of a human. I was fortunate to be able to see the monthly prayer service with the special chanting of the Buddhist monks. It was quite soothing to listen to. Check out the video if you are interested. I also added some footage from a previous trip to Anshan.
