Current Time in Fushun, China

Fushun is a prefecture-level city in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, located approximately 45 kilometers east of the provincial capital Shenyang on the Hun River. With a population of approximately 2.1 million people, Fushun was once one of the most important industrial cities in China, built upon vast reserves of coal and oil shale that made it a cornerstone of China's heavy industrial economy and the energy backbone of the Manchurian industrial base.

Fushun's modern significance dates to the early 20th century when Japanese engineers and companies, following Japan's seizure of Manchuria, began systematic exploitation of the enormous open-pit coal deposits in the area. The Fushun Coal Mine became one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world, stretching several kilometers in length and descending to great depths. After 1949, the People's Republic continued and expanded coal and oil shale extraction here, making Fushun a symbol of socialist industrial achievement and the engine of China's early national construction.

The massive open-pit mine, the West Opencast Mine, has become in recent years one of China's most striking geological and industrial heritage sites, essentially a vast human-made canyon extending to enormous depths. Visitors can observe its scale from viewing platforms on the rim, gaining a visceral sense of the enormous energy and labor that went into its creation over more than a century of continuous extraction. The mine is being gradually transformed into a heritage attraction as coal extraction winds down.

Fushun holds significant historical importance as the site where Puyi, the last emperor of China who became the puppet emperor of the Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo, was held as a war criminal after World War II and underwent his famous re-education and transformation. The Fushun War Criminals Management Centre, where Puyi and Japanese war criminals were held and reformed, is now a museum documenting this remarkable chapter of history.

The city also has connections to the Manchu ethnic group that founded the Qing Dynasty. The Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County under Fushun's jurisdiction includes Hetu Ala, the original capital of the Manchu chieftain Nurhaci before the conquest of China, an important historical site for understanding Manchu history and the origins of the Qing Empire.

Fushun is connected to Shenyang by expressway and rail, including commuter rail services that facilitate the daily movement of workers between the two cities.

Fushun's story of industrial rise, massive resource extraction, and now post-industrial transition is one of the most dramatic of any Chinese city, and its combination of extraordinary industrial heritage, Manchu historical sites, and evolving urban landscape make it an underappreciated destination in northeastern China.