About 50,000 Chinese enter DPRK from Dandong annually, the municipal tourism department says.

Direct flights to Dandong from Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu and Heilongjiang's capital Harbin were recently added to flights to and from Shandong province's Qingdao, Shanghai and Beijing.

A high-speed train to Liaoning's capital Shenyang is expected to cut travel time from 4.5 hours to 1 hour and 10 minutes beginning in August. Another scheduled for next year will connect to Dalian while cutting travel time.

Visitors can also use the new Zhihui Lyuyou phone app to book tickets and hotels, and peruse attractions and restaurants.

And the admission-free Memorial Museum of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea built in 1958 has been recently renovated to better display its 12,000 exhibitions.

It testifies to an event that links the Maritime Silk Road of the past to Dondong's present status as a logistics hub and tourism port of call.

That historical connection has made it a contemporary harbor for outsiders hoping to glimpse the DPRK－and maybe even dance with its citizens.

About this series

China Daily explores Silk Road destinations every Monday.