Qinhuangdao in the context of "Dalian"

The Shanhai Pass (simplified Chinese: 山海关; traditional Chinese: 山海關; pinyin: Shānhǎi Guān; lit. 'Mountain Sea Pass') is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coastal plain between the Yan Mountains foothills and the Bohai Sea, which is the only easily traversable landway between North and Northeast China. It is located in present-day Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, on the east bank of the Shi River, with defensive walls stretching from the Yan Mountains all the way to the shores of the Liaodong Bay.

Throughout Chinese history, garrisons around the pass served as frontline defensive outposts against raids and incursions into the North China Plain by various non-Sinitic ethnic groups from the Northeast (also known as Manchuria since the 19th century), including the Dongyi, Donghu (Xianbei and Wuhuan), Khitan and Jurchen (Manchus). The current Shanhai Pass was built during the early Ming dynasty as the easternmost fortification of the Ming Great Wall, and was extensively reinforced after Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing following the Jingnan campaign, making it the most important defensive barrier in all of China, as it shielded the heartland region around the imperial capital. The pass' strategic location dictated that without mounting a costly direct siege, the only way an invading army can get past the pass' defense was to circumvent it around the north through a few treacherously narrow mountain passes deep within the Yan Mountains, which would make it very difficult to maintain supply lines and thus any sizeable invasions. This defensive significance therefore earned the pass the famous nickname "Greatest Pass Under Heaven" (天下第一关).

Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County (Chinese: 青龙满族自治县, Manchu: ᠨᡳᠣᠸᠠᠩᡤᡳᠶᠠᠨ ᠮᡠᡩᡠᡵᡳ ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡠᡴᠰᡠᡵᠠ ᡯᡳᡷᠶ ᡥᡳᠶᠠᠨ) is a Manchu autonomous county in northeastern Hebei province, China, bordering Liaoning Province to the north and east and located in the eastern part of the Yan Mountains. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Qinhuangdao, and, as of 2004, had a population of 520,000 residing in an area of 3,309 km (1,278 sq mi). Bordering county-level divisions are: Lingyuan and Jianchang County (Liaoning) to the north, Liaoning's Suizhong County and Qinhuangdao city proper to the east, Qian'an and Lulong County to the south, and Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County and Qianxi County to the west.

During the 1976 Tangshan earthquake 180,000 buildings in Qinglong collapsed, but no fatalities occurred.

Shanhaiguan District is a district of the city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, China, named after the pass of the Great Wall within the district, Shanhai Pass. It is located 16.5 kilometres (10.3 mi) east of the city centre.

Liaodong Bay is largest and longest of the three main bays of the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. The other two bays are Laizhou Bay to the south and Bohai Bay to the southwest.

Although named after the Liaodong Peninsula (which forms its eastern shore), the bay is located directly south of the Liaoxi region, almost entirely west of the Liao River. It is bounded by the coastline of cities from southern Liaoning province (Dalian, Yingkou, Panjin, Jinzhou and Huludao) and eastern Hebei province (Qinhuangdao and Tangshan), between the Laotieshan Cape at Dalian's Lüshunkou District in the east, and the Daqing River estuary (which is an old southern mouth of Luan River) at Tangshan's Laoting County in the west. The bay is a source of ecological importance and exhibits rich biodiversity.

Huludao (Chinese: 葫芦岛; pinyin: Húludǎo), formerly known as Jinxi (锦西) until 1994, is a coastal prefecture-level city in southwestern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China. Its name literally means "Gourd Island", referring to the fiddle-shaped contour of the peninsula ("half-island" in Chinese), which resembles a bottle gourd, at the city's Longgang District. It has a total area of 10,582 km (4,086 sq mi) and as of the 2020 census a population of 2,434,194 of whom 1,252,660 inhabitants lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 urban districts and Xingcheng City largely being conurbated.

Located on the northwestern shore of the Liaodong Bay, Huludao is one of the three principal cities (along with Jinzhou and Hebei province's Qinhuangdao) in the Liaoxi Corridor, and is Northeast China's gateway through the Shanhai Pass into North China. It borders Jinzhou to the northeast, Chaoyang to the north, and Qinhuangdao to the southwest, as well as sharing maritime boundaries with Yingkou and Dalian to the east and southeast across the bay.

Tangshan (Chinese: 唐山; pinyin: Tángshān) is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in the central area of the Bohai Rim and serves as the main traffic corridor to the Northeast. The city faces the Bohai Sea in the south, the Yan Mountains in the north, Qinhuangdao across the Luan River to the east, and Tianjin to the west.

Much of the city's development is thanks to the industrialization, beginning in 1870, when Kailuan Group established coal mines in the region. It is the birthplace of China's first standard-gauge railway, the first railway plant, the first steam locomotive, and the first cement factory. It was hailed as China's "cradle of industrialization". Even today, Tangshan is a hub of steel, energy, chemical, and ceramics production. Ping opera, which originated from the city's Luanzhou county, is one of the five most popular Chinese operas.