Classical buildings
Old banks.
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Dalian's historic heart, a circular square laid out by the Russians in 1898 when they administered the area and named Nikolayevskaya Square; it was later named after Sun Yat-sen, known in China as Zhongshan, and ten streets radiate from it like sunbeams. It is ringed by grand classical buildings put up in the first half of the twentieth century during the Japanese era, with columns, domes and stone façades; they served as banks, a hotel and offices, and many are still banks today, making the square an open-air gallery of European architecture in Asia. At its centre lie a garden and a paved plaza where locals gather on summer evenings to dance and practise foreign languages, reached by underpasses from the surrounding streets, and it is a short walk from Russian Street and the railway station. The square is free and always open, per visitor guides. The evening, when the classical buildings around it are lit, is the loveliest time.
Old banks.
Like sunbeams.
Dancing and chat.
Zhongshan District, central Dalian
Near the Dalian Mosque on Beijing Street in Xigang, about 3 km west of Zhongshan Square, an Arab-style mosque rebuilt in 1990, with restaurants run by Hui Muslims around it, per visitor guides.
