5 Days in Fuxin

The Haizhou open pit runs roughly 3.9 km long and 1.8 km wide, with the floor about 350 m down; coal extraction here ended in June 2005 and the site became one of China's first national mine parks that same year. Viewing platforms first, then a market-district dinner.

1. fuxin haizhou mine park
2. fuxin city markets

South of the city in Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, under an hour by road. More than 260 Tibetan-Buddhist figures were carved into the granite slopes from the 17th century on, around the site of the Kangxi-era Puan monastery; climb slowly and watch your footing on the rock stairs.

1. fuxin haitangshan carvings

Founded in 1669 in Fo Temple town, southwest of the city, the Ruiying monastery grew into a monastic town of some 3,000 monks at its height and was called the Eastern Tibet of the region. Walk the hall complex at an easy pace — it is an active monastery, so quiet dress and behaviour are appreciated.

1. fuxin ruiying monastery

An honest neighbour day, about two hours away by road. Bijia Mountain sits offshore, joined to the mainland by a natural gravel causeway that appears at low tide — check the tide table before you go. The Liaoshen Campaign memorial museum in the city records the autumn 1948 campaign; back to Fuxin by evening.

1. jinzhou

About 25 km northeast in Shala town, the Chahai site preserves a neolithic village some 8,000 years old; the on-site museum explains the finds, including a stone-piled dragon figure just under 20 m long. A market snack, then the Beijing-Shenyang line trains, running through Fuxin since the end of 2018.

1. fuxin chahai site
2. fuxin city markets