What wasn’t mentioned on the Web sites I reviewed, but was added to the rhetoric after I arrived was that Dalian girls are considered some of the most beautiful women in China. I’m betting had I known this beforehand, it wouldn’t have come down to a coin-toss between Dalian and Qingdao (another beautiful sea-side city with a beer festival, but no beautiful women to speak of — my requirements weren’t complex).

Dōngběi nǚzǐ, northeastern women, are renowned throughout China for being tall, strong-willed and fair-skinned beauties; a fact that most every taxi driver comments on when I tell him that my wife is from Dalian.

When moving to Suzhou in 2006, the aforementioned beautiful Dalian girl in tow told me (somewhat apprehensively) that Suzhou has been famous for centuries (perhaps millennia) for its beautiful women. After having heard the same thing about Dalian over the previous year and a half, I was beginning to suspect Chinese people just told foreigners this about every city in China.

According to this recent article on Netease, thankfully translated by the folks at ChinaHush, which ranks China’s top 10 cities with the most beautiful women, there’s some truth to it (if truth can be found in online polls) — Dalian took the #1 spot, with Suzhou following closely at #4.

1. Dalian | 大连

Bold but graceful
Score: 95
Girls from northeast of China always have the reputation of being light skinned and tall. Dalian girls are undoubtedly the cream of the crop among girls in the northeast of China. Compare with women in southern China, Dalian girls might not be as graceful, but they are more bold and prideful; Compare with women in other northeast China and other inland cities, Dalian women added more elegance. For example actress Dong Jie (董洁) is a typical representative of the girls in Dalian.

4. Suzhou & Hangzhou | 苏杭

Pretty girl of humble birth
Score: 92
Suzhou is the most girly city in China. Some say more than half of the beauties of southern China are in Suzhou. They all have admirable pretty hands. Needless to say, Suzhou girls are most suitable to be kind, considerate and desirable lovers. Suzhou and Hangzhou are known to produce beauties, is indeed well-deserved reputation. [Example]: Han Xue (韩雪)

The full list is

1. Dalian | 大连 – Bold but graceful – Score: 95
2. Chongqing | 重庆 – Warm like fire – Score: 94
3. Chengdu | 成都 – Pure as the eye solution – Score: 93
4. Suzhou & Hangzhou | 苏杭 – Pretty girl of humble birth – Score: 92
5. Changsha | 长沙 – Beauty of blandness – Score: 91
6. Nanjing | 南京 – Delicate, free and natural – Score: 90
7. Shanghai | 上海 – Fashionable and exquisite – Score: 89
8. Beijing | 北京 – Aristocrat of the century – Score: 88
9. Hong Kong | 香港 – Fashion Pioneers – Score: 87
10. Guangzhou | 广州 – Soft inside and hard outside – Score: 86