Spent some time in Dalian recently. Absolutely gorgeous and magnetic place. Parts feel like St Petersburg. The walking area of the city feels like San Francisco, with plenty of preserved Japan-era buildings. The newer parks are spacious and Soviet-sized. This is some of the cleanest air of any major Chinese city. Cost of living is maybe 20% of Beijing. Most young people are working at SOEs. Main economic drivers are precision manufacturing for shipyards and industrials. SK Hynix just bought out Intel’s flash memory fab. Not that many Koreans on the streets but you can feel yourself becoming maybe 1% more Korean as you roam around. This area was the og manufacturing hub of China, benefitting from the earliest industrial infrastructure on the mainland. People are excited about Dalian becoming the top hydrogen pipeline port, the other competitor being Qingdao. Seafood is another large driver, although to be frank the umi is much better in Japan still. Property market is weak but condos are full. The market has a number of 40year leasehold offerings that are maybe 5 years in and down maybe 50%+. Construction quality is surprisingly high all around.