Xishi District 西市区

History

When Yingkou port opened to foreign trade in 1861, Xishi became a trading hub linking China inside the Great Wall with the lands beyond it, and was nicknamed the 'Shanghai beyond the pass' (关外上海). Its present name dates from 1957.

What to see

The West Battery site (西炮台遗址), first called the Yingkou Great Battery, stands on the Bohai shore on the left side of the Liao River mouth. The Qing ordered it in 1881 to guard the gateway to the Northeast and finished it in 1886. Three gun platforms, a large one between two smaller ones, sit inside a moat, walls and gates, with a magazine and barracks, over about 60,000 square metres. Japanese troops wrecked it in 1894, and Russian forces stripped its barracks in 1900. Pearl River Film Studio (珠江电影制片厂) restored its original look in 1987 while shooting the film 'The Qing Artillery' (大清炮队), and a replica Krupp gun was mounted on the main platform in 2013. It was listed as a national key cultural relic in 2006.

The district government also lists Liaohe Old Street (辽河老街), the memorial hall of the Yingkou group of the Communist Party's Fengtian branch (中共奉天支部营口小组纪念馆), the Mogouying site (没沟营遗址), Xida Temple (西大庙) and Yongyuanjiao Wetland Park (永远角湿地公园) among its historic and tourist sites.

Setting and landscape

Liaodong Bay and the Liao River meet off the district's western edge, and the government counts more than 40 wild aquatic species there worth catching. To the south the Dahan River (大旱河) marks the border with Gaizhou, to the east Xinhua Road and Tiyu Road mark the border with Zhanqian District, and to the north the Liao River bridge leads straight to Panjin (盘锦).

Highlights

• West Battery site 西炮台遗址: Qing coastal battery of 1881–1886 at the Liao River mouth; national key cultural relic since 2006.
• Liaohe Old Street 辽河老街: Listed by the district government among its historic sites.
• Yongyuanjiao Wetland Park 永远角湿地公园: Wetland park named by the district government among its tourist sites.