An aerial photo taken on Thursday shows people dancing at a park in Shenyang.

The capital city of Liaoning province in China, Shenyang is the economic, cultural, transportation, business and trade centre of the country's north-east.

It is a city steeped in history and briefly served as the Qing capital in the early days of the Manchu conquest.

Home to some of China's best-preserved palaces and tombs, it is most well-known for Shenyang Imperial Palace, the former imperial palace of the early Manchu-led Qing dynasty.

The palace complex was built in 1625, and the first three Qing emperors lived there from 1625 to 1644.

The remarkable architectural edifice is now recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage site and it offers important historical testimony to the history of the Qing dynasty and to the traditions of the Manchu and other tribes in the north of China.

Besides the Forbidden City in Beijing, Shenyang Imperial Palace is the only other existing palace complex in China and is now the most popular and renowned tourist attraction in Shenyang.