Industrial port (engineering, chemicals,
textiles, oil refining, shipbuilding, food
processing) in Liaoning, China, on Liaodong
Peninsula, facing the Yellow Sea; population
(1986) 4,500,000. It comprises the naval base
of Lushun (known under 19th-century Russian
occupation as Port Arthur) and the commercial
port of Dalien (formerly Talien/Dairen). Both
were leased to Russia (who needed an ice-free
naval base) 1898, but were ceded to Japan
after the Russo-Japanese War; Lushun was
under Japanese siege June 1904-Jan 1905.
After World War II Lushun was occupied by
Russian airborne troops (returned to China
1955) and Russia was granted shared
facilities at Dalien (ended on the
deterioration of Sino-Russian relations
1955).