Anshan: Industrial Heritage Meets Mineral Wealth
Anshan sits 92 kilometres south of Shenyang in central-southeast Liaoning, a city shaped by two centuries of extraction and creation. The name itself comes from a nearby mountain's saddle-like silhouette, visible from the train as you approach. What draws visitors now is not the steel mills that once defined it, but what the earth beneath the city offered before industry: jade, magnesite, talcum. Today you can stand before the world's largest jade Buddha—an 8-metre statue carved from a single 260-ton stone—or soak in hot springs that emperors once favoured. Anshan rewards those willing to look beyond the surface.
The Jade Buddha and Sacred Sites
The Jade Buddha Temple complex dominates what visitors come to see. The statue itself, housed within a temple in the Dongshan section of 219 Park, commands attention: nearly 8 metres high, weighing 260.76 tonnes, claimed as the world's largest jade Buddha carved from one piece of stone. The temple grounds sprawl across manicured parkland, and if you pay an additional fee you can descend into the Lohan Holy Land, an underground tunnel lined with Buddhist statues lit by coloured lights.
Away from the city centre, the Xiao Temple in Xiuyan County offers different appeal—stone construction dating (by legend) to the Tang Dynasty, the only large ancient temple of its kind in the province. Legends root the site so deeply in local memory that locals call it simply the Old Temple. For those tracing Zhang Xueliang's life, his birthplace and memorial hall occupy Tai'an County; he was born there in 1901.
Parks for Walking and Breathing
Two major parks define how locals spend their hours. The 219 Park, named after the date of the city's liberation by the PLA—February 19, 1948—sprawls across woodland and lakes in the eastern part of the city. Early mornings and early evenings bring crowds practising tai chi, dancing, singing, exercising among the trees. The park is free and popular with residents year-round.
Connected to 219 Park, Dongshan Park offers something more ambitious: a 5-kilometre path running along the crest of hills that form the eastern flank of the city, passing through 946 hectares of dense woodland. Roughly halfway, a tower sits at the ridge's high point, allowing rest and views across the city and surrounding plains. The walk is free; a small fee lets you climb the tower.
Three smaller parks—Lieshishan, Yongle, and Mengtai—offer urban relief. Lieshishan sits in the city centre with views from its hilltop; Mengtai in Lishan district spreads around an attractive lake backed by a crescent ridge of hills.
Beyond the City: Qianshan National Park and Hot Springs
Twelve kilometres southeast by road, Qianshan National Park justifies the journey. The name means "thousand mountains"—an abbreviation of "thousand lotus flower mountains," after a legend of lotus petals dropped to earth by a goddess. The jagged peaks do resemble that description. Buddhist and Taoist temples, monasteries, and nunneries scatter across the landscape, many sharing the same site—one of few places where both religions coexist. Three cable car routes assist less able visitors up the hillsides, though none reaches the summit, leaving climbing for yourself. Peak season costs ¥80; off-peak ¥60.
The region surrounding Anshan holds several scenic areas: Baiyun Mountain near Haicheng, the Circle Back Scenic Area in Xiuyan County, Longtan Bay Scenic Area also in Xiuyan, and others. Within Qianshan itself, an aviary near the Matria Buddha cable car houses a large variety of birds in a netted complex.
Hot springs define winter and recuperation. Tanggangzi, the oldest hot spring spa in the city, dates to the Tang Dynasty and was used by the last emperor, Puyi, and his wives. Visitors can experience mud treatment here—being buried in hot volcanic sand infused with spring water—roughly 16 kilometres south of the city. The Anshan Qianshan Ski Centre near Qianshan National Park operates throughout most of the winter, offering slopes for beginners to intermediate skiers, snow mobiles, quad bikes, and rubber ring slides. After skiing, a mixed-sex outdoor hot spring spa is included in the price. Winter ice skating happens on lakes in 219 Park and Lieshishan Park; the ice is maintained by park attendants, and skates can be hired for a modest fee if you don't bring your own.
What to Eat and What to Buy
Street food clusters near school gates: lamb kebabs, fried chicken strips, octopus on a stick, and a local pancake cooked with egg, spring onion, leak, and a hotdog sausage in the centre, all under ¥6. Fu Shi Ting, a Japanese fast-food chain with several branches, serves set meals at ¥15–30. Anshan's proximity to the Korean border means dozens of Korean BBQ restaurants where food arrives raw and marinated, cooked at your table.
Xiuyan County jade fills the higher-end department stores, though the large jade market at the north end of the Jade Buddha temple complex offers direct access. Nantai luggage market near Haicheng stocks leather bags, belts, and wallets—many cheap copies of western designer brands, significantly cheaper than equivalents elsewhere in China. Street vendors sell Nanguo pears, the local agricultural pride nicknamed the "king of pears."
When to Visit
The city experiences monsoon-influenced humid continental climate: hot, humid summers and cold winters. Winter transforms the parks into skating grounds and opens the ski centre. Spring and autumn offer mild temperatures suited to hiking Qianshan's peaks and walking Dongshan's ridge path. The hot springs are particularly appealing in cooler months, though they operate year-round.
Anshan asks little fanfare from visitors—no grand monuments demand your camera, no must-see checklist dominates planning. Instead, the city offers specifics: a jade Buddha of impossible scale, hot springs where emperors soaked, mountains named for lotus petals, parks where locals move through morning exercise routines, and the layered history of a place that survived mining, war, industry, and reinvention. Those willing to spend time here find a city that reveals itself slowly, in detail.