Visitors stand on the Broken Bridge on the Dandong side to get a view of the DPRK. (Photo/China Daily)
Dandong exists not only as a tourism destination but also as a city because of this proximity.
Dynastic rulers restricted residency since it was a frontier settlement. Most inhabitants were involved in border patrol or logistics.
Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) emperor Wudi declared the link from the settlement to the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region as the first of three Maritime Silk Road routes. Emperors also used it to ship local timber to Japan.
The Cold War brought influxes to the still-sparsely populated border. The forest forged a city.
The border juxtaposition continues to draw outsiders today.
Dandong hosts about 8,000 expatriates, mostly from the DPRK.
And 80,000 people from the Republic of Korea visit the greater Changbai Mountain area annually, Chinese tourism officials say.
Many come to Dandong to peek over the border. It's one of a few Chinese cities where they can get visas on arrival.
They typically then drive from the city to Jilin province's Ji'an, with the Yalu to their right and the Changbai Mountains to their left.
About 50,000 Chinese enter DPRK from Dandong annually, the municipal tourism department says.
Direct flights to Dandong from Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu and Heilongjiang's capital Harbin were recently added to flights to and from Shandong province's Qingdao, Shanghai and Beijing.
A high-speed train to Liaoning's capital Shenyang is expected to cut travel time from 4.5 hours to 1 hour and 10 minutes beginning in August. Another scheduled for next year will connect to Dalian while cutting travel time.
Visitors can also use the new Zhihui Lyuyou phone app to book tickets and hotels, and peruse attractions and restaurants.
And the admission-free Memorial Museum of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea built in 1958 has been recently renovated to better display its 12,000 exhibitions.
It testifies to an event that links the Maritime Silk Road of the past to Dondong's present status as a logistics hub and tourism port of call.
That historical connection has made it a contemporary harbor for outsiders hoping to glimpse the DPRK－and maybe even dance with its citizens.
