The southernmost province in China's Dongbei (Northeast) region, Liaoning features beautiful beaches, the easternmost reaches of the Great Wall, the breezy cosmopolitan port of Dalian, Shenyang's impressive Manchu Imperial Palace, the majesty of the Benxi Water Caves and much more, including the opportunity to get a firsthand peek at one of the world's most closed nations, North Korea, which lies across the Yalu River from the fascinating Chinese border town of Dandong.

Liaoning is a rewarding destination year-round, but especially in summer months when the coastline in the vicinity of Dalian and Lushun (formerly Port Arthur) can best be enjoyed for its scenic beaches and ocean breezes. If the popular beaches are too crowded, a trip up the coast toward Dagu Shan, Dandong and the Great Wall of China at Tiger Mountain (Hu Shan) is a great way to go.

Inland, Liaoning offers fascinating glimpses into Manchu history, especially in Shenyang, where, in addition to the sprawling Manchu palace complex, tombs and pagodas testify to the city's past as the Manchu capital. Shenyang also boasts two excellent museums. The Liaoning Provincial Museum is a treasure house of Dongbei history, including samples of Shang-era oracle bones inscribed with some of the earliest examples of Chinese writing, while the September 18 History Museum memorializes the 1931 Japanese invasion of Liaoning.

Outside of Shenyang, attractions such as the temple-dotted Qian Shan (Qian Mountain) and the majestic Benxi Water Caves make for fine diversions from the cities and excellent stops on a Dalian-Dandong-Shenyang-Liaoning itinerary.

Today, though the Han population is now upwards of 80%, Liaoning, like the rest of Dongbei, retains many traces of its historical cultural diversity. Russian, Japanese and Korean influences mingle with Manchurian and Han Chinese elements throughout the province, resulting in a cultural blend that emerges in local cuisines and architecture, as well as in the faces and language of the people themselves.

Liaoning takes its name from the Liao Dynasty (907-1125 AD), which was ruled by the Khitan, a nomadic people who settled the region in the 9th century. The Khitan era was following periods of rule by the equally nomadic Xianbai and Goguryeo—all of whom fought with the Han Chinese to the south at one point or another. 

China had ruled the region in earlier times, starting with the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-220 AD) dynasties, but it proved a difficult prize to hold, and throughout China's history Liaoning has changed hands numerous times as the fortunes of various Chinese dynasties and northern "barbarian" powers waxed and waned. 

The Liao gave way to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), established by yet another northern nomadic people, the Jurchen, who held sway until the Mongols under Genghis Khan and his sons swept all before them en route to conquering Song Dynasty China (960–1279) along with much of the rest of the world. 

The Mongols went on to establish the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), only to be upstaged by the Ming (1368-1644), who made Liaoning an important part of their northern defensive network, constructing the earth-works Liaoning Wall while also fortifying the existing Great Wall of China to keep the next batch of northern "barbarians" at bay. It was not to be. The Manchu descended on Liaoning in the early 17th century, establishing their capital at Shenyang, then went on to conquer the rest of China in 1644 and establish the Qing Dynasty, China's last, which would endure until 1912.

The Qing built a wall too—though this time, it was meant to keep Han Chinese farmers who had resettled war-torn Liaoning after the Manchu conquest out of the northern Manchu homelands. Known as the Willow Palisade, it was intended to protect prime Manchu pasturelands and forests from the settlers, but by the late 1800s, the system was broken down and large areas of Liaoning were settled by newcomers from the south.

As the Qing lost their grip on power, other nations moved in, with several spectacular battles in the Russo-Japanese war taking place in Liaoning, including the decisive battles of Port Arthur and Mukden (near Shenyang). The Japanese triumph in the war announced their arrival as a major power—bad news for China, which would suffer from Japanese aggression and imperial expansion for much of the first half of the 20th century.

After the Qing fell in 1912, Japan dominated the former Manchu heartlands, seizing Liaoning from competing warlords in 1931 and subsequently installing the hapless Puyi—who had been in line be the next Qing emperor—as ruler of the puppet state of Manchukuo. When Japanese plans for their own empire collapsed in 1945, Liaoning returned to China, though not in its present form; it wouldn't be until 1954 that today's boundaries were established.

Under the Communists, the rapid industrialization initialized by the Japanese was continued by the new government, making Liaoning a center of steel and heavy machinery production. Unfortunately, China's industrial Northeast has been one region that hasn't been able to take full advantage of economic boom times, with large outdated state-owned plants finding the transition to a global market a difficult one.

Liaoning experiences warm, wet summers thanks to the continental monsoon season, with much drier and very cold winters. July sees average temperatures of 21-25°C, while January plummets into the freezing range with averages ranging from -17 to -5°C. Spring and fall tend to be warm, fairly dry, and windy, with the tourism season kicking off in May and winding down in October, though winter sports and festivals are also popular from December through February.