Beach volleyball is among the many recreational possibilities.

Throughput at the port surpassed 165.44 million tons last year, up 13.9 percent over 2006, when it handled 3.81 million containers, an increase of 18.7 percent.

The port's ore and crude oil terminals each have a capacity of 300,000 tons. Another terminal is dedicated to shipping automobiles.

Test operations are now underway on a Yantai-Dalian train ferry across Bohai Bay to Shandong province.

The Dayaowan Bonded Harbor Area, which started operations in 2007 in the north of the city, is also part of Dalian's bid to become the international shipping hub of northeast Asia.

An internationalized city

Dalian became a window to northeast China after the nation began its reform and opening policies. It has a State-level economic development zone, a hi-tech industrial zone, a State tourist resort and the only bonded harbor and export processing zone in the region.

The city is now home to 12,661 foreign-invested companies, including 186 operations by 87 Fortune 500 companies.

It has residential communities and schools serving the overseas community along with international restaurants and entertainment facilities.

As the financial center of northeast China, Dalian is home to 79 branches or subsidiaries of finance institutions, including eight foreign banks.

Sompo Japan Insurance and ING Group have their China headquarters in Dalian. Thirteen other foreign insurance companies have representative offices in the city.

The International Monetary Fund established its first China training center in Dalian. Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange are ranked No 1 in China and No 2 in the world.

The city is also an exhibition center. It has hosted the Worldwide Chinese Insurance Congress, an APEC senior officials economic conference, the Asia-Europe forum, a WTO ministerial meeting, and the annual "New Champions" forum, also known as Summer Davos, that attracts government and global business leaders.