Dapeng Fortress

Dapeng Fortress was built in 1394 as one of the coastal garrisons defending the Pearl River approaches against pirates, and its walls, gates and grid of lanes survive within modern Shenzhen, a city that otherwise has almost nothing older than the 1980s. The town's abbreviated name, Peng, remains Shenzhen's traditional shorthand. Inside are the general's residences, notably the mansion of Lai Enjue, who commanded here during the nineteenth-century conflicts on this coast, along with ancestral halls, temples and lanes of grey brick houses. The surrounding Dapeng peninsula holds Shenzhen's best beaches and the Yangmeikeng coast.

What you actually see

• The Ming walls and gates - the fortress circuit and its entrances.
• The general's mansions - Qing officers' residences within the walls.
• The lanes - grey brick houses and ancestral halls inside the fortress.
• The peninsula coast - beaches and headlands beyond the town.

When to go

October to April for the mildest weather; summer is hot, humid and typhoon-prone, though the beaches are busiest then. Weekends bring Shenzhen day trippers to both the fortress and the coast.

Honest expectations

Parts of the fortress have been restored commercially with shops and cafés. It is a long trip from central Shenzhen, over an hour by bus. Some houses charge separately and interpretation is mostly in Chinese.

Nearby

Shenzhen's beaches are on the same peninsula; Hong Kong lies across the bay.