Liugong Island

Liugong Island lies about four kilometres from the city of Weihai at the mouth of Weihai Bay, covers 3.15 square kilometres and has a coastline of 14.93 kilometres; its highest point is Qiding Mountain at 153 metres, and black pine covers more than half the island, which was made a national forest park in 1985. The island's present name comes from members of the Liu family who settled it in the Han period. Here the Beiyang Fleet, China's first modern navy, was formally mustered on December 17, 1888 with Ding Ruchang in command, and here the fleet came to its end in the closing weeks of the First Sino-Japanese War. The island now carries naval training grounds, a museum of that war and a memorial to the fleet.