Liugong Island — base of China's first modern navy (Weihai)

A whole navy's infrastructure left on one island: admiralty, naval academy, dry dock, iron pier, coal yard, telegraph office, hospital — and 13 gun batteries around the bay. The headquarters was built in 1887 and still stands.

Liugong Island was the anchorage of the Beiyang Fleet, China's first modern navy, and the battlefield of the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War. The State Council listed the site as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 1988, and Shandong province defined protection scopes for 28 separate Beiyang-navy and war relics on and around the island in 2000.

This is a naval base preserved as a site, not a museum built later: the admiralty compound, naval academy, dry dock, iron pier, coal yard, telegraph office and naval hospital are the original installations. Reaching it means a ferry from Weihai — plan the crossing into your day.