Population: 6.73 million
Urban Population: 4.76 million
Area: 8,515 sq km

Nationalities: Han, Hui, Manchu, Corea, Xibo and Mongolian

History: can be traced back to 7200 years ago

Climatic Features: located in the North Temperate Zone with continental climate; 4 distinct seasons

Average Temperature: 8.6?with the lowest of -23.0? and the highest of 31.4?

Local Highlights: Shenyang Acrobats

History Introduction
Shenyang is a distinctive city with many historical relics. As the cradle of the Manchus, started as a trading centre for nomads in as far back as the 11th century, and later was established as the capital in the 17th century. After the Manchus conquered and moved into Beijing in 1644, Shenyang became a secondary capital of Qing Dynasty under the Manchu name of Mukden, and a centre of the ginseng trade. Its Imperial Palace (gugong) stands as evidence of that period. The main structures were started by Nurhachi and completed in 1636 by his son, Huang Taiji (1592-1643), who founded the Qing Dynasty. The palace now functions as a museum, with exhibitions of ivory and jade artifacts, musical instruments, furniture and the Ming and Qing paintings.
A sustainable development city
Shenyang is one of the 15 sustainable developing cities in the world. In October 1997, Global City Sustainable Development Plan 1997 Annual Meeting was held in Shenyang by the United Nations, on which Shenyang Declaration was passed. In 1998 Shenyang was awarded Habitat Scroll of Honor by the United Nations. UN Deputy Secretary Mr. Claus Topfer came to Shenyang to attend International Environment Workshop in 1999 and signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of UNEP and UNCHS with Shenyang Municipal Government.
Shenyang, the "Eastern Ruhr", is no longer short of "water or green". Dark smoke out of factories is hard to find. It has stepped out of the world top ten seriously polluted cities as assessment on ambient air of global large cities conducted by World Resource Research Institution. It was appraised as an excellent tourist city by the state in 1998. And in April 2000, itwon the "International Local Action Award" ,which is awarded by International Local Environmental Protection Committee.

Complete Infrastructures
For years Shenyang has been devoting to the construction of urban infrastructures and has greatly improved such infrastructures as municipal works, transportation, communication, energy and environmental protection etc.
Transportation and Post Service: Shenyang is an important hub of transportation and communication in the northeast of China. Taoxian International Airport will be built into the fourth largest airport in China. The current 78 airlines lead directly to main domestic cities and international airlines reach directly to Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Hongkong etc., which totals 26,000 sorties annually. Railroad density tops the first in China with the first class modern passenger station and marshalling yard in our country, joining the most important passenger and goods transportation hubs in all places of China. The highway totals 5252 kilometers, which includes expressway 236 kilometers.The round-the-city expressway joins with Shenyang-Dalian, Shenyang-Fushun, Shenyang-Benxi, Shenyang-Tieling and Shenyang-Shanhaiguan expressways, which constitutes an expressway network of "one round and five radiations". Watercourse leads Shenyang-Dalian Expressway to Yingkou in two hours and to Dalian in four hours.
Public Transportation: The total road length in urban districts iss 1668kilometers covering an area of 28.660 million sq. m.. There are 174 permanent bridges and the No. 2 Round-the-city Highway, which formed an urban road system with relatively complete functions. Water supply system in the city is complete. The largest demagnetization water plant is capable of supplying 1.630 million tons of water a day. Gas rate covers 97.6% in the city. Daily gas supply capacity is 1.28 million cubic meters. Shenyang is the place where the northeast power network situated. The annual power consumption can be as large as 11.50 billion kWh. Heat supply covers 86 million sq. m. in urban districts and over 90% of the residence can get the heat through pipes. Urban forestation covers 25%, which is 4.7 sq. m. of green land for each person.
Urban Construction: There are 530 architectural design and construction enterprises in Shenyang, which are capable of researching, designing, constructing and assisting in auxiliary work. In the last year, the investment of real estate development and construction amounts to RMB 8.5 billion. House construction covers 131.32 million m2 which with 5.72 million m2. completed. Living area averaged by the population is 8.79 sq. m.

Tourism
North Tomb (beiling) is the imperial tomb of Huang Taiji. Setting in a huge park, the North Tomb is the finest sight in Shenyang, The tomb took eight years to build, and the impressive aminal statues on the approach to it are reminiscent of the Ming tombs.
Fuling Tomb Located approximately 7 miles east of Shenyang, Fuling is the tomb of Nurhachi and his empress - the former founded the Manchurian Empire and the Qing dynasty. Coming Into the tomb would require one to pass a sacred way that is flanked by stone camels, lions and horses, which further leads to a 108-step stairway. Beyond the stairway, is the walled city in which the emperor was buried. Built in 1651, the tomb is still well preserved to this day.
Shenyang Imperial Palace: Near one of Shenyang's shopping area is the Shenyang Imperial palace, which is an excellently well-preserved cultural relic. In 1625, Nurhaci began the construction of the palace and it was completed in 1636 under Abahai's reign. Although it is considered a miniature of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Palace comparatively is smaller in scale. The Manchurian influence behind its construction also shows a vast departure in style from its predecessor.
Zhongshan Square
The main architecture on the central axis is the Chong Zheng Dian, where Abahai attended to his political affairs. This is the hall where Juchen was renamed Manchu. Behind is the three towers Feng Huang Lou (Phoenix Tower), and Qing Ning Gong (Palace of Celestial Peace) in which Abahai and his concubines lived. Da Zheng Dian (Hall of Great Affairs) is the mail architecture on the east axis. In front of the hall, there are eight pavilions for the Manchurian tribal lords to gather for discussion of state affairs and other important ceremonies.