Get to know Mingshan District
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- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Benxi
- Chinese name
- 明山区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Population · 2020 census
- 378,936
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
Hills surround the district and the Taizi River (太子河) winds through it. Forest covers 67.73 per cent of the land, and the district government counts more than 100 kinds of wild vegetables and fruit and more than 310 medicinal herbs in its hills. Coal, bauxite, iron ore and limestone lie under the district.
History
Mingshan was formed when Benxi redrew its districts in the mid-1980s. Lixin District (立新区) was abolished, and Niuxintai (牛心台) and other areas were joined with Beidi (北地), Mingshan and several other neighbourhoods taken from Pingshan District (平山区). The national place-name database traces the name to Daming Mountain (大明山) in the district.
What to see
The Benxi Museum (本溪市博物馆), on Yuming Road (峪明路), was founded in 1980; its new building, completed in 2009, is shaped like two linked ding vessels. Its permanent exhibition, "Memories of Benxi" (本溪的记忆), opens with the Miaohoushan (庙后山) site in Benxi County (本溪县), about 500,000 years old, which the city government describes as the earliest human dwelling site found in northeast China. The collection of nearly ten thousand objects, mostly excavated in the Benxi area, includes early Palaeolithic human teeth, the fossil thigh bone of a child, Bronze Age pottery, Warring States bronze daggers and Ming and Qing porcelain. The museum is a national AAA scenic area.
Qingyun Mountain (青云山), by the Benxi South exit of the Dandong–Fuxin Expressway, is a national AAAA scenic area. Zixiatang (紫霞堂), at Huanxiling (欢喜岭) in Wolong (卧龙), is AAA-rated, and the Xishui Nanshan scenic area (溪水南山景区) at Niuxintai is AA-rated.
Getting oriented
The Shenyang–Dandong high-speed railway, the Benxi–Tianshifu Railway (溪田铁路), the Benxi–Huanren road (本桓公路) and the central Liaoning ring expressway cross the district, and all three Benxi city exits of the Dandong–Fuxin Expressway (丹阜高速公路) are in Mingshan. Shenyang Taoxian International Airport is 50 kilometres away.
Highlights
- Benxi Museum 本溪市博物馆: City museum opened in 1980, in a 2009 building shaped like two ding vessels; finds from the 500,000-year-old Miaohoushan site.
- Qingyun Mountain 青云山: National AAAA scenic area by the Benxi South expressway exit.
- Zixiatang 紫霞堂: AAA scenic area at Huanxiling in Wolong.
Sources for this guide
走进明山_本溪市明山区人民政府 · Mingshan District People's Government, Benxi
明山区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
本溪博物馆_博物馆_历史沿革_市情_本溪市人民政府 · Benxi Municipal People's Government
本溪市A级景区名录表（截至2025年12月）_四季旅游_专题专栏_本溪市文化旅游和广播电视局 · Benxi Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio and Television
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Mingshan District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Mingshan District 明山区
Plan your visit
Getting there
Mingshan District is about 4 km in a straight line from central Benxi. Search for 明山区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →More in Benxi
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 明山区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.