10 Days in Anshan

Settle in downtown, then the palace built around the world's largest jade Buddha — front Sakyamuni, rear Guanyin, carved from one 260-tonne boulder — and an evening lake loop of 219 Park next door.

1. anshan yufuyuan
2. anshan 219 park

A full day in the granite peaks half an hour southeast of downtown — cable car up, Buddhist monasteries like Longquan Temple, the Taoist Wuliang Guan and the natural stone Maitreya Buddha. Real walking shoes.

1. anshan qianshan

The works museum of New China's first great steel mill, then the city museum's jade and steel collections — the two stories that built this city.

1. anshan angang steel museum
2. anshan city museum

The famous spa south of town at an unhurried pace — hot pools and thermal mud packs, bathhouses reaching back to the last emperor's era, back downtown for dinner.

1. anshan tanggangzi hot springs

Out to the Manchu county under Anshan's administration, two hours southeast by road — the jade country where the city's Buddha boulder was quarried. Jade-carving exhibition center and market halls; buy direct from carvers.

1. anshan xiuyan jade market

Markets, a long lunch and a nap — the Shenyang overnight starts tomorrow.

1. anshan city markets

HSR half an hour north to the early-Qing imperial palace; the old-town grid and Marshal Zhang's mansion fill the afternoon. Overnight in Shenyang — an honest neighbor-city night.

1. shenyang imperial palace

A museum morning in the provincial capital and a slow old-town loop, then the half-hour HSR back to Anshan.

1. shenyang

A recovery day at the hot-spring hotels at Qianshan's foot, with peak views when the air is clear.

1. anshan qianshan hot springs

A market breakfast and a last downtown stroll, then the train from Anshan station.

1. anshan city markets