Everything about Jinan totally explained
Jinan (; in some literatures the pinyin without tones is given as
Ji'nan, to disambiguate from a possible misreading as
Jin an) is a
sub-provincial city and the capital of
Shandong province,
People's Republic of China, it's also called "The Spring City". Located in western Shandong, it borders
Liaocheng to the southwest,
Dezhou to the northwest,
Binzhou to the northeast,
Zibo to the east,
Laiwu to the southeast and
Tai'an to the south.
Administration
The sub-provincial city of Jinan administers 10
county-level divisions, including 6
districts, 1
county-level city and 3
counties.
- Licheng District (历城区)
- Lixia District (历下区)
- Shizhong District (市中区)
- Huaiying District (槐荫区)
- Tianqiao District (天桥区)
- Changqing District (长清区)
- Zhangqiu City (章丘市)
- Pingyin County (平阴县)
- Jiyang County (济阳县)
- Shanghe County (商河县)
These are further divided into 146
township-level divisions, including 65
towns, 27
townships and 54
subdistricts.
Geography and climate
Jinan is located in the north-western part of
Shandong province at 36
° 40
′ northern
latitude and 116° 57′ east of
Greenwich. Because its location falls within the warm temperate continental
monsoon climate zone, Jinan has four distinct seasons. The city is dry and rainless in spring, hot and rainy in summer, crisp in autumn and dry and cold in winter. The average annual temperature is 14.2°C, and the annual rainfall is around 675 mm. January is the coldest and driest month, the monthly averages are -5.4°C for the daily minimum temperature, 3.6°C for the daily maximum temperature, and 6.6
mm for the rainfall. July is the warmest and wettest month, the corresponding numbers are 23.5°C, 32.6°C, and 190.9 mm (Source: The
Global Historical Climatology Network, version 2 beta, covering 874 months between 1916 and 1990).
History
Jinan has been inhabited since more than 4000 years ago. The Chengziya (城子崖) in the eastern
Zhangqiu City is where the
Longshan Culture was first discovered in 1928. One of the unique features of Longshan Culture is the skill of pottery making, demonstrated in recovered black pottery relics - some of which are as thin as egg shells.
During the
Spring and Autumn Period (722 B.C. - 481 B.C.) and
Warring States Period (475 B.C - 221 B.C.), Jinan was split between two states - the
state of Lu in the west and the
state of Qi in the east. In 685 B.C., the state of Qi started to build the
Great Wall of Qi (齐长城) across Changqing county, and the wall still remains today and is open to tourists.
Bian Que (扁鹊) From present-day Changqing County came the earliest Chinese doctor to appear in historical documents and the most famous one of his time.
Zou Yan (邹衍, 305 B.C - 240 B.C) developed the concepts of
Yin-Yang and
Five Elements (阴阳五行说).
In the
Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.), Jinan was the capital of Kingdom of Jibei (济北国) and started to become the cultural and economic hub of the region. In 1995 and 1996, archaeologists from
Shandong University excavated the tomb of Han Dynasty in
Shuangru Mountain (双乳山汉墓) where the last king of Jibei
Liu Kuan (刘宽) was buried. More than 2000 relics such as jade swords, jade masks, jade pillows have been recovered within the 1,500 square meter excavation site, showing off the wealth of the city during the period.
Cao cao (曹操, 155 A.D - 220 A.D) was an official of Jinan before he became the de facto ruler of Han Dynasty. His son overthrew the last emperor of
Han and founded the
Wei Kingdom(220 A.D - 265 A.D) of the
Three Kingdoms Period.
Since the 5th century, Buddhism has flourished in Jinan. The Langgong Temple (朗公寺) in the southern county of Licheng was one of the most important temples in northern China at that time. The same period witnessed extensive building of Buddhist architectures in the southern counties of
Licheng and
Changqing such as Lingyan Temple (灵岩寺) and Thousand-buddha Cliff (千佛崖).
Jinan remained the cultural center of the region during the
Song Dynasty (960 A.D - 1279 A.D), and the two most important poets of
Southern Song were both born in Jinan:
Xin Qiji (辛弃疾, 1140 A.D - 1207 A.D ), the famous patriotic poet who led the peasant rebellion against the
Jurchen invasion in 1161 A.D. and
Li Qingzhao (李清照, 1084 A.D - 1151 A.D), the most famous female poet in Chinese history. Both of the poets lived in the same period when the Song Dynasty suffered major military setbacks against Jurchen invasion and lost almost half of the territories. Although well-known for their patriotism, the poets failed to persuade the government of Song Dynasty to stand up to the northern Jurchen Kingdom and recover the lost territories including Jinan. After retreating to southern China and realizing the incapabilities of their government, the poets started to write extensively and passionately about their hope of a stronger nation and recovery of lost lands. Many of their poems appeared in Chinese textbooks of later dynasties as well as the textbooks used today.
During the
Jurchen and
Mongolian occupation, culture in Jinan continued to thrive. The most famous artist of
Yuan Dynasty,
Zhao Mengfu (赵孟頫, 1254 A.D - 1322 A.D) was appointed as the governor of Jinan in 1293 A.D and spent three years in the city. Among the extraodinary art works he finished during his stay in Jinan, the best painting is "Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains" (鹊华秋色). Geographer
Yu Qin (于钦, 1284 A.D - 1333 A.D) was also an official of Jinan and finished the famous geography book
Qi Cheng (齐乘) in Jinan.
Economy
Jinan has a pool of high-quality labor resources. There are 18 universities and colleges in the city where more than 200,000 students are studying. Among the 200+ research institutes in the city, 10 are national laboratories.
The focus on technology intensive industries has transformed Jinan from a city supported by heavy industry and textiles to a city of more complex industrial structures. IT, transportation tools, home appliances, bio-engineered products, etc. have become the new pillars of industry. Jinan's IT-related economic output ranks No.4 in China in 2004.
Transportation
Railways
The two major railways going through Jinan are the North-South
Jinghu Railway from
Beijing to
Shanghai and the West-East
Jiaoji Railway from Jinan to
Qingdao. By the Jinghu Railway, cities that can be reached within the province include Dezhou, Tai'an,
Jining and
Zaozhuang; by the Jiaoji Railway, cities that can be reached within the province include Zibo, Qingdao and
Weifang
Expressways
Major expressways include
China National Highway 104,
China National Highway 220 and
China National Highway 309. The
Jinan Coach Terminus
has the largest passenger flow in
China.
Airport
From
Jinan Airport, one can fly to every Chinese provincial capital (except for
Lhasa) as well as international cities including
Seoul and
Singapore.
Attractions
Jinan is famous across China for its springs and lakes. Jinan was also the historical center of Buddhist culture for the whole province and invaluable historic sites are left behind in its southern counties.
Spring and lake parks
Jinan is known as the "Spring City" because of the large number of springs in the city. The majority of springs, known historically as the "72 Famous Springs" (七十二名泉) are concentrated in the downtown district and flow north to converge in Daming Lake. High on the must-see list is the
Baotu Spring Park, where the Baotu Spring and many other smaller springs nearby have been a major attraction for tourists for many years.
"Baotu" means "jumping and leaping" in Chinese. The water in the spring pool can be seen foaming and gushing, looking like a pot of boiling water. The spring was visited by the famous Chinese Emperor
Qian Long (1711 A.D - 1799 A.D) of the
Qing Dynasty and the Emperor complimented the spring as "No.1 under the Heaven"(天下第一泉). A tablet with the Emperor's handwriting "Baotu Spring" has since been erected beside the spring pool and the fame of Baotu Spring has spread across the country.
Not far away to the northeast of
Baotu Spring Park is the
Daming Lake, which, together with Baotu Spring and
Thousand-Buddha Mountain have been considered the "Three Greatest Attractions in Jinan" before other historic sites outside of the city started to be developed for tourism. However, since new historic sites and parks started to be developed in counties outside of the city, the old attractions within the city have been losing lure for tourists.
Other notable parks include the
Lake of Five Dragons (五龙潭) near the
Baotu Spring Park, the Black Tiger Springs (黑虎泉) beside the city moat, and the Baimai Spring (百脉泉) of eastern Zhangqiu City.
Buddhist sites
Licheng County to the south east of the city of Jinan boasts a great richness in historic Buddhist sites envied by the rest of
Shandong Province. The Four-door Pagoda (四门塔), built in 661 A.D., is the oldest existing one-story stone tower in China. Inside the tower sit four buddhist statues of the 6th century, and the Cypress (九顶松) beside the tower dates back more than 1000 years ago. Below the hill on which tower is built are the remnants of the Shentong Temple (神通寺) founded in the 4th century but destroyed in the wars of later dynasties. The tomb towers of monks in the temple which date from different historic periods display extraodinary artistic features. The statues in the nearby Thousand-Buddha Cliff (千佛崖) form one of the best collections of
Tang Dynasty Buddhist statues in the region.
The
Lingyan Temple in the southern county of Changqing was one of the four most famous temples (四大名刹) of the Tang Dynasty. The temple was founded during the
Jin Dynasty and it reached its heyday in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, the famous monk
Xuan Zang stayed in the temple and translated Buddhist manuscripts he'd brought to China from India. Many emperors in Chinese history had visited the temple before they went to
Mount Tai (one of China's five sacred mountains, located south of Jinan) for ceremonies.
The clay sculptures of Buddhas made in the Song Dynasty are considered as "The Best of China" (海内第一名塑) by the great scholar and journalist
Liang Qichao (1873 A.D - 1929 A.D). Buddhist architectures within the temple such as towers and tomb towers are among the earliest and best protected in the region.
Museums and libraries
The
Shandong Provincial Museum located at the foothill of
Thousand-Buddha Mountain is the largest museum in the province. It has a large collection of natural as well as historical treasures from the whole province. The museum was established in 1982 and right now it has 8 exhibition halls - "Treasures of Shandong Province", "Stone Sculptures", "Warship of
Ming Dynasty", "Ancient Coins", "Art Treasures", "Fossil Collections", "Dinosaurs" and "Specimens". The museum has more than 210,000 relics and specimens, making up 1/3 of the collections in museums of whole province.
Shandong Provincial Museum ranks No.7 for number of relics in museums across China.
The
Jinan Municipal Museum is to the west of Thousand-Buddha Mountain, in the north of the city. Even though dwarfed by the provincial museum, the
Jinan Municipal Museum still has a collection of more than 20,000 relics. Most relics on display in the municipal museum were recovered in the city.
The
Shandong Provincial Library in the eastern High-tech Park is the finest in the province and among the Top 10 Chinese Libraries. As of 2004, the library had more than 5.18 million documents, many of which date back many centuries and are important sources for research on Chinese history. The library also has a large collection of western journals/books. Originally, the library was built beside the famous Daming Lake in 1909 by the then governor of Shandong. In the late 1990s, a project was undertaken to move the library to the eastern part of the city, and it reopened in 2002 with 35 reading rooms and more than 2000 seats.
Shopping centers
Most shopping malls in Jinan are in the downtown area centered around Quancheng Square and Quancheng Road. Quancheng Square was built by the municipal government beside the city moat in the early 21st century; at the center is the statue "Spring" which has become a symbol of Jinan. The square is beside the city moat. It has a music fountain, a 46,000 square meter underground shopping center and a memorial hall with statues of famous people from Shandong. Quancheng Square is almost always chosen as the open-air stage for large-scale public entertainment in Jinan.
Quancheng Road was rebuilt at the same time that the Quancheng Square was created. The government's intention was to create a modern business district and yet preserve the traditional Chinese culture. Therefore one may find both newly-built shopping malls with traditional Chinese styles and modern western skyscrapers. Quancheng Bookstore--the largest bookstore of the city--is located here. Walmart also can be found, near the western entrance to Quancheng Road.
Education
Universities and colleges
Shandong University (山东大学)
Shandong Normal University (山东师范大学)
Shandong Institute of Architecture and Engineering (山东建筑工程学院)
Shandong Jiaotong University (山东交通学院)
Shandong Economic University (山东经济学院)
Shandong Finance Institute (山东财政学院)
Shandong University of Chinese Traditional Medicine (山东中医药大学)
Shandong College of Arts (山东艺术学院)
Shandong College of Arts and Design (山东工艺美术学院)
Shandong Physical Education Institute (山东体育学院)
University of Jinan (济南大学)
Jinan Railway Polytechnic (济南铁道职业技术学院)
High schools
Shandong Experimental High School (山东省实验中学)
Jinan Foreign Language School (济南市外国语学校)
Sports
Chinese Super League of football (soccer)
Chinese Basketball League
Sister cities
Jinan has eleven sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
Wakayama, Japan; since January 14, 1983.
Coventry, United Kingdom; since October 3, 1983.
Yamaguchi, Japan; since September 20, 1985.
Rennes, France; since 1985.
Kfar Saba, Israel; since 2007.
Sacramento, United States; since May 29, 1985.
Regina, Canada; since August 10, 1987.
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; since September 28, 1988.
Suwon, South Korea; since October 27, 1993.
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia; since September 25, 1994.
Vantaa, Finland; since August 27, 2001.
Joondalup, Australia; since September 4, 2004.
Augsburg, Germany; since October 10, 2004.Further Information
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