Welcome to my Hometown! Shenyang, China - by Zeyu Wang

My name is Zeyu Wang, I come from China, and I am now a PhD student at the Faculty of Information Technology under the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship. Everything about Veszprém fascinates me deeply: beautiful scenery, rich cultural events, peaceful atmosphere, etc. I have been studying here for a year, I miss my hometown very much, and now I have an opportunity to introduce my hometown.

It is the Rhine-Ruhr Industrial Zone in the East and the heart of China's heavy industry. It was the capital built by Emperor Nurhaci and was occupied by Japanese invaders for more than ten years. It is one of the largest cities in Northeast Asia and the capital of Liaoning Province of the People's Republic of China. Its mother river is the Hun River. It is my lovely hometown, Shenyang!

Shenyang has a population of 9 million. It is a city famous for its industry, a city with a strong Soviet imprint, a steampunk city, a pioneer city, and an engineer city. In the picture below, you can see the machine tool in the China Industry Museum in Shenyang. If you want to know the history of China's industrial development and China's top heavy industry technology, Shenyang is definitely your best choice.

Various machine tools, photographed at China Industry Museum, Shenyang

Shenyang is also a garden city, and the beautiful natural scenery still exists in the modern city. In the next picture, you can see a park (similar to the Central Park in New York) in the city center, where the scenery is gorgeous. In Shenyang, the most distinctive entertainment is ice and snow sports in winter. The winter temperature in Shenyang can reach minus 30 degrees, and everything outdoors will be frozen. In the picture there is the Hun River in winter, people enjoy skating on the ice and swimming in the icy river.

The frozen Hun River, photographed at Sanhao Bridge, Shenyang

The view of the city park, photographed in the Science Park, Shenyang

If there is one dish that can represent Shenyang, I think it should be the chicken rack (or chicken ribs). A chicken rack is basically the leftover part of a chicken after removing the breasts, legs and wings. The chicken rack can be fried, marinated, barbecued, smoked, etc., and the most classic food pairing is a chicken rack, stretched noodles, pickles and Snow Beer. In shenyang, with a population of nine million, people eat an average of more than 300 million chicken racks every year. Chicken rack is definitely one of my favorite snacks, and the picture below is one of my meals at the Old Four Seasons restaurant in Shenyang.

The classic chicken rack package, chicken rack, stretched noodles and pickles, photographed at the Old Four Seasons restaurant, Shenyang.

Shenyang is the birthplace of the last dynasty of China, which makes it a very historical city. At the same time, Shenyang is the center of China's heavy industry, making it a very modern city. In the past two centuries, Shenyang has been occupied by the Japanese and Russians many times, which brought a diverse culture here. China is a very big country and Shenyang can be a representative city of Northeast China,  and if you want to learn more about the stories of this region, Shenyang is definitely the place for you.