Shenyang — Mukden, or Shengjing ("radiant capital") in its imperial name — is where the Qing dynasty began. Nurhaci and his son Hong Taiji built their palace and tombs here in the 1620s and 30s, two decades before the Manchus took Beijing, and the city kept the confident, slightly rough-edged air of a former capital ever since. Add the warlord mansion of the Zhang family from the Republic era, the museums of the industrial "Eastern Ruhr", and a big, entertaining northeast city that most international travelers still walk straight past. A day or two between Beijing and Harbin is richly rewarded.
