Dalian had made a favourable impression before I had even arrived, and walking through the inner city with my new guide Laura confirmed the rumours that Dalian is a metropolis of considerable appeal. The central business district is clean and developed, the atmosphere is fresh and the sea air is quick to disperse any significant smog caused by the burning of coal. Laura, a friend of one of my teaching colleagues who had organised an apartment for me in the city, was genuinely pleased to show off the layout of the downtown area and its surrounds, and at the moment I arrived she provided a meal and a quick orientation before helping me to my apartment. 
I consider it to be critical, when trying to familiarise oneself with a new city within a limited timeframe, to walk as much as possible. Walking forces a gradual pace, it ensures that one is internalising the routes travelled and thus forming a mental representation of the city. When I met Laura again on Saturday morning, my immediate priority was merely to walk around the inner districts, and attempt to map in an adequate knowledge of the layout. It didn't prove difficult - Dalian is centred around Renmin Road, which stretches all the way from the city's hub in the East to the western zones. Renmin Road passes directly through the main public Squares, each with their own character. 
The city's main square, Zhongshan Square, struck me as tacky, but was encircled by some superb architecture. Shenyang's Zhongshan Square sports a blocky statue of Mao, by contrast, Dalian's featured the latest Spring Festival installation, an imitation tree which looked like a sign that might be constructed over a pub; several cartoonish puffins nesting in its branches. There is an enormous television built onto one of the buildings across the road; in the evenings many locals can be found here watching crosstalk comedy or company-sponsored advertisements, or perhaps instructional ballroom or latin dancing videos.
Continuing West, Friendship Square has no park area, but is centred on a monument which characterises the World as a globe upheld by five geodesic hands, each coloured to represent the World's major races of humankind. It was unnervingly like a giant soccerball. Dalian is home to China's best soccer team, and soccer monuments are all over the city. Next was the People's Square, located around the government buildings, all of which resembled that beside Government Square in Shenyang. This was an open park; we wandered past kite flyers and bird feeders whilst installed loudspeakers played patriotic anthems about Dalian. From here, it was easy to see how spacious Dalian is, and how attractive the new buildings are. It also struck me how many of them appeared to be under construction. Laura informed me that I'd arrived in the middle of Dalian's reconstruction project.
Dalian is a city that is proud to be amongst China's most modern centres, but suffers in that its international reputation is still relatively slight. Dalian has until recently had no real tourist attractions; its cleanliness and modern skyline have been its only real drawcards, and these alone are not enough to make anything of a name for the city. Dalian's local government (widely praised within China) have recently initiated a series of development projects which intend to change this and make Dalian something of a major trade centre for the whole of Manchurian China.
It was low season, Winter was still hanging on and tourism (apart from me) was next to nonexistent. Thus were hotels closed, parks and attractions switched off, and a small army of workers building things on everywhere I wanted to see. Only Olympic Square, next up from the People's Square, seemed fully functional, a massive Olympic logo centred on China on a map of the world marked in the tiling; the soccer fields beside the enormous gym complex were in constant use, all day every day.
