Liaoning: The Toughest City in the Northeast—Why Does It Embody the Entire Region?
At the 1999 Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Benshan claimed he intended to visit a relatively large city: "Take a trip to Tieling for our honeymoon." The punchline sent the entire nation into fits of laughter. It is said that in that very year, some people actually made special trips to Tieling on green-skinned trains, hoping to catch a glimpse of this "big city."
The sketch "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow."
Twenty years later, Zhao Benshan's young fellow townsman Li Xueqin, as if replaying history, brought Tieling back into public discussion once again. So much so that now, when you type "Tieling" into a search engine, the related suggestions are all about "the end of the universe."
Thanks to this old and young duo, as well as a host of fictional characters from Tieling like Fan Debiao, Zhao Si, and Xie Guangkun, Tieling has seemingly become the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of the spiritual world and public discourse of Northeast China over the past two decades. However, the issue is that its fame often stops at after-dinner jokes. In the real world, even within Liaoning Province, Tieling isn't exactly "picture-perfect."
Overlooking the Yinzhou District of Tieling from Longshou Mountain.
Image credit/Visual China
So, what kind of place is Tieling? What are its mountains and rivers like? How about its urban landscape? Is the scenery beautiful? Is the food delicious? Are the customs unique? More importantly, why does this place continuously produce comedic talents for us? What hidden connection does this have with the local environment?
If we discuss the formation of contemporary Northeast Chinese culture within a 300-year historical perspective, then no matter what, we cannot avoid the following keywords:
"Military settlements," "restrictions," 'Chuang Guandong' (braving the journey to Northeast China)," "the Chinese Eastern Railway," "industrial base," "great granary"...
A very common landscape in the Northeast region.
Interestingly, all these keywords can be seamlessly applied to Tieling.
There are two main reasons for this phenomenon: First, the history of Tieling's urban development is closely related to every major change in Northeast China over the past 300 years—in Northeastern dialect, "it never missed a single one." Second, present-day Tieling lacks a very clear, dominant center; it更像是一个大集合、大杂烩 of various towns and villages in Northern Liaoning. Its three counties, two county-level cities, and two districts each carry different historical threads and settlement functions.
In a sense, Tieling, "assembled" from these parts, is a microcosm of Northeast China. Whether for Zhao Benshan, Li Xueqin, or anyone seeking creative inspiration from the black earth, merely within Tieling, one can find every symbol related to the Northeast. This might be a relatively straightforward, yet obvious, reason why this place produces so many artists.
Below, let's use these keywords to see how Tieling was "assembled."
During the Ming Dynasty, the central government established many military fortresses in Liaodong (Note: ancient Liaodong refers to the entire area of present-day Liaoning) for garrison troops to farm and fight, aiming to pacify and balance the complex local ethnic minority forces in this region. The northernmost points of their military deployment were the cities of Kaiyuan and Tieling. The establishment of these two garrisons也算得上是中原文明第一次强力地贯彻到铁岭地区 (can be considered the first strong implementation of Central Plains civilization into the Tieling area). The famous Ming general Li Chengliang, Nurhaci's military mentor, rose to prominence from Tieling; Cao Xueqin's ancestors also世代居于铁岭 (resided for generations in Tieling) before following the Manchus into Shanhaiguan.
Figure 2: Changtai Temple on Taiyang Mountain;
Figure 3: Xiufeng Pagoda on Longshou Mountain.
As times changed, the military functions of these garrisons and their supporting fortresses and fortifications were gradually replaced by mundane farming and weaving life. In Zhao Benshan's famous work "Ma Dashuai," the protagonist Ma Dashuai comes from "Majiapuzi" and often says, "Which 'puzi' (fortress village) are you from?" Tun (military settlement), Pu (fortress)—these originally tense military terms have long been integrated into the local vernacular of Liaoning, even becoming urbanites' derogatory terms for mocking rural folks' rusticity.
Figure 1: The old city of Kaiyuan. Photo/Yue Zhiqiang
Figure 2: Tieling White Pagoda. Photo/Yue Zhiqiang
However, the two garrison cities of Tieling and Kaiyuan were not abandoned with the disappearance of armor and artillery. Both cities grew over time into the present-day Kaiyuan and Tieling. In the "Old Town Street" of today's Kaiyuan City, the outline of the ancient Kaiyuan garrison city can still be clearly seen. The old city of Tieling Guard is now Tieling's Yinzhou District, the most prosperous and bustling area in the entire city.
Interestingly, to better integrate into the "urban circle" of the provincial capital Shenyang, the current Tieling municipal government is not located in the traditional city center of Yinzhou District but in the Fanhe New Area, characterized by intricate river networks and widespread wetlands. This complex situation can be confusing for first-time visitors to Tieling. But remember, the most old-school and narrow-sense "Tieling" refers to Yinzhou.
Photo/Image provided by Tuchong Creative, Photographer/Mu Tan
The second keyword is "restriction": After the Qing army entered the Shanhai Pass, they enclosed large areas of land as their "dragon rising land," forbidding anyone from entering. This meant that most of the land in Jilin and Heilongjiang remained undeveloped until modern times. Among these restricted areas was Xifeng County, which now belongs to Tieling City. As a royal hunting ground during the Qing Dynasty, its ecology was almost never disrupted, and to this day, it remains abundant with deer and wild silkworms.
By the late Qing Dynasty, the restriction policy gradually relaxed, and a large number of farmers from Shandong and Hebei came to Northeast China to reclaim land and settle, known as "Chuang Guandong" (Braving the Journey to the Northeast). Although Tieling and Kaiyuan have long histories, during the Ming-Qing transition, the Liaodong region was plagued by war, leading to a sharp decline in population. In the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, Tieling City once became a place for exiling criminals, reflecting its desolation at the time. The arrival of Chuang Guandong immigrants once again replenished the local population and reshaped the local customs. Zhao Benshan, whose ancestral home is Penglai, Shandong, is a descendant of these immigrants.
In addition to Chuang Guandong, the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway played a significant role in the modern development of Northeast China. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the railway mileage in Northeast China accounted for half of the country's total. The rumbling trains shuttled back and forth between the three northeastern provinces, greatly accelerating the efficiency of the flow of people and goods in this vast region and giving rise to many railway hubs, such as Harbin. This crucial railway also runs north-south through Tieling, with major stations in Tieling and Kaiyuan.
In today's Diaobingshan, there is a steam locomotive museum,
documenting the glorious years of steam locomotives in Northeast China.
During the Manchukuo era, the Japanese began to set up factories in Tieling, laying the foundation for Tieling as an industrial city. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, substantial coal reserves were discovered in Diaobingshan, which is under Tieling's jurisdiction, further solidifying Tieling's industrial development. Tieling Thermal Power Plant once held the title of the best in the country. More意味深长的是, the initial capital of Zhao Benshan's comedy empire was accumulated by selling coal from Diaobingshan (then called Tiefa) to Benxi.
The last keyword is "granary." Changtu County, located in the northernmost part of Tieling with vast areas, was historically grazing land for Mongolians. After the Chuang Guandong immigrants arrived, the large tracts of flat wasteland were gradually turned into farmland. Today, Changtu has become the top grain-producing county in Liaoning, an undeniable "granary of Northern Liaoning."
So, you see, it is no frivolous conclusion to say that Tieling encapsulates almost all the elements of Northeast Chinese culture. It is only natural that such a place gave birth to an artist like Zhao Benshan, who has made an indelible contribution to the promotion and dissemination of Northeast Chinese culture.
An eternal specimen of urban and rural Northeast China
When talking about Tieling, Zhao Benshan must be mentioned. Not just because of his fame or far-reaching influence, but because both his personal experiences and his widely popular skits and TV shows are inextricably linked to the urban and rural areas of Tieling.
So, before discussing Zhao Benshan, let's first look at how Tieling's natural geography has shaped a classic template of urban-rural relations in Northeast China.
The Liao River, a low-key major river in Northeast China, ranks seventh among China's rivers and nourishes the entire province of Liaoning. The upper reaches of the Liao River split into eastern and western branches, which converge in Changtu County, northern Tieling. The merged main stream flows south, creating the flat and fertile Liao River Plain. The cities of Changtu, Kaiyuan, and Tieling are all located on this plain, where the terrain is gentle and the river networks are intricate. Premier Zhou Enlai once came to Tieling by boat in his youth and studied for half a year at Yingang Academy.
Within Tieling, to the east of the narrow plain lies the extension of the Jilin Hadaling range of the Changbai Mountains, a genuine mountainous area, secluded and beautiful. The "Kaiyuan hazelnuts" produced in these mountains are the most delicious nuts in Northeast China, bar none. Zhao Benshan's hometown, Shizuigou in Lianhua Township, is precisely located in the vast mountains east of Kaiyuan.
Map designed by Shao Tianrui
Farmers in the mountains, while blessed with natural resources, also endure poverty, hardship, cold, and incredibly long, tedious slack farming seasons. This unique living environment gave rise to a lifestyle highly focused on self-entertainment, blending mysterious folk shaman rituals, vulgar but passionate impromptu jokes, and open-minded yet warm interpersonal relationships... For the villagers here, humor is not a rare quality, and talent is often a natural expression of their entertaining spirit. Zhao Benshan is merely one outstanding example among many talented Northeastern farmers.
In Northeast China, an ancient shamanistic culture known as "tiaoshen" (spirit jumping) is popular among the folk.
Against this geographical and cultural backdrop, within the jurisdiction of one city, small villages in mountain valleys and modern cities on the plains connected by railway trunk lines form a clear urban-rural dual structure. Zhao Benshan, who grew up in the countryside and looked up to the city, deeply embedded his unique understanding of urban-rural relations into his works. The most representative example is the TV series "Ma Dashuai."
The story of "Ma Dashuai" is set in the ancient fortified city of Kaiyuan, which by the time of the TV series production had already become a vibrant county. Led by Zhao Benshan, the creative team constructed an incredibly realistic and meticulous urban sandbox using characters such as big bosses, small shop owners, social figures,底层劳动者, street children, folk artists in the wedding and funeral markets, retired officials, scammers, the unemployed, and drifters. This also left an invaluable historical cross-section of Kaiyuan.
The rural-born protagonists struggled to navigate the urban rules of the game, experiencing countless joys and sorrows along the way, a journey that remains a favorite topic among film enthusiasts to this day. My grandmother, who was born in rural Jilin, loved "Ma Dashuai" the most during her lifetime and would praise it endlessly every time she watched it. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand it when I was young. It was only in the years after her passing that I revisited the series more than twenty times.
In fact, Zhao Benshan was deeply passionate about exploring the subtle relationship between rural and urban areas in his works: at the peak of his success, Ma Dashuai used all his assets to establish a school for migrant workers’ children, ensuring they had access to education, yet he ultimately returned to his rural hometown, which had by then become a tourist destination. Liu Laogen, who lived worry-free in his eldest son’s urban home during his retirement, insisted on returning to a poor mountain village to develop a tourist resort. The early seasons of "Country Love" directly depicted a prosperous, harmonious, and vibrant rural vision as imagined by Zhao Benshan.
It can be said that Tieling is both Zhao Benshan’s spiritual home and the testing ground for his visions. It nurtured his talent and career, and in turn, Zhao Benshan used his works to faithfully, delicately, and affectionately record fragments of the city’s era, painting a beautiful vision of urban-rural relations in Tieling.
Today, Zhao Benshan has aged, and Tieling, like many other small cities in Northeast China, faces numerous challenges as it navigates the waves of change sweeping across the region. When Li Xueqin once again brought the city into the spotlight, it carried a completely different meaning compared to two decades ago: for this young Beida graduate who had lived in metropolises for years, Tieling is a warm, distant, and increasingly abstract hometown—once infinitely beautiful but now growing模糊, fragile, and unable to bear any grand ambitions or aspirations.
But in the real Tieling, life continues to move forward. The short video influencer "Your Han Wang," known for his infectious laughter, zooms past the morning market in a sports car. Beef pastries sizzle with oil as they come out of the pan, and the barbecue joint featured in "The Story of Chuaner," where customers take off their shoes and sit on the kang, is packed every night. The only uncertainty is when—or if—the next Zhao Benshan will emerge from this city.