Liugong Island
Island Off Weihai, Base Of The Qing Beiyang Fleet And Site Of Its Defeat In 1895 · Weihai, Shandong
A wooded island in the bay at Weihai, half an hour by ferry from the Shandong coast, and the place where the Qing navy died. The Beiyang Fleet, China's first modern naval force, had its headquarters here from the 1880s, with barracks, a naval academy, dry docks and gun batteries cut into the hillsides; in the winter of 1894-95 the Japanese took the surrounding heights, trapped the fleet in the bay and destroyed it, and the admiral, Ding Ruchang, took poison rather than surrender. The island is now a national memorial: the fleet headquarters survive as a museum of the war, with recovered guns, ship models and photographs, and the batteries on the ridges can be walked. It is also a pleasant day out on its own terms - pine woods, sea views, a small deer park and beaches around the shore - so visitors come as much for the walking as the history. The combined ticket includes the ferry, and the crossing offers the best view of the island.
Liugong Island, Huancui District, Weihai, Weihai, Shandong, China
Daily, roughly 7:30-17:30 with last entry in the afternoon (sources vary); ferries run about 8:10-16:00 out and until about 17:30 back (check).