Meaning of the name
"Mountain East"

Geographic location:
Situated in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, on China's eastern coast line, the province's territory consists of the Shandong Peninsular and adjacent inland. Protruding into the conjunction area of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, the peninsula faces the Liaodong Peninsular of Liaoning Province over the sea. Its inland adjoins the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. The province stretches 420 km from south to north and 700 km from east to west, covering an area of 156,700 square kilometers.

Capital: Jinan

Major Cities: Jinan, Yantai, Weifang, Qingdao, Zibo, Zaozhuang, Jining, Dongying, Oufu

Neighboring Areas: Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Hebei provinces

Attractions in Shandong

Population:
According to statistics of the fifth national census, the total population of the province was 90.79 million. The ratio of male population against female was basically balanced.

Male: 45.96 million, 50.63 percent of the total;
Female: 44.83 million, 49.37 percent.
Population growth rate:
Compared with the figure of 84.39 million out of the fourth national census made in 1990, the population has increased 6.40 million. The birth rate was 10.75 per thousand while the mortality was 6.29 per thousand, making up a natural growth rate of 4.46 per thousand. The population growth rate had been stabilized at about 5 per thousand for nine years.

Ethnicity:
There are 54 ethnic groups, including the Han, Manchu, Zhuang, Korean, Miao, Tibetan, Yi, Yao, and Bai. The Han population is 90.17 million, accounting for 99.32 percent of the province¡¯s total. The population of various minority ethnic groups is 620,000, accounting for 0.68 percent of the total.

History
Shandong has always been near the heart of Chinese history. Prehistoric remains found in Shandong show that in stone-age times it was already a centre for rice cultivation. It was a part of the Shang Kingdom (1766-1122 BC), the earliest Chinese state which is known from recorded history, was later occupied by the state of Qi, and in 221 BC was conquered by Qin, the First Emperor of China. Noted as an economic center under the Qi, by the Six Dynasties period (220-589 AD) it was northern China's main center of the coastal trade with southern China. The completion of the Grand Canal in 1293 made it a center of inland trade as well as maritime trade. Agriculturally however Shandong was damaged in early times from deforestation and the resulting flooding and erosion. In the 1800s changes in the course of the Yellow River (Huang He) through Shandong resulted in disasterous calamities to the population. The problems continued into the 20th century and resulted in the emigration of millions of farmers to northeast China and Inner Mongolia. Within Shandong there was increasing hardship and resentment, and the resentment came to be focused on the Christian missionaries who were becoming more numerous and aggressive in seeking converts in the region. A secret movement began, called "The Righteous Fists", or "The Boxers", which grew from a Shandong peasant uprising against Christians into a war between China and the Western Powers. The fighting ended in August 1900 when foreign troops occupied Beijing, and the war was concluded in 1901 with a treaty that imposed heavy punitive damages on the Qing government.

When two German missionaries were killed by rebels in Shandong in 1897, Germany used the incident as pretext to send in its ships and troops, and forced China to cede to it the territory around Qingdao (Tsingtao). The Germans established a port, built a railroad to the interior where they mined coal, and began the first modern industrial development in Shandong. Japan siezed the German concessions in 1914 while fighting in the First World War on the side of the Allies. Their occupation was legitimized by the Allies in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, but was met with outrage in China. The May 4th Movement began as a student protest in Beijing against the treaty, and spread across China in the form of student and labor strikes, boycotts of Japanese goods, and clashes with Japanese residents. By 1922 the Japanese were forced to withdraw from Shandong, but occupied the most of the province once more when they invaded China in 1937.

After the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek resumed control of Shandong, but were expelled by the Communists in 1948. After 1949 the Communists began to make long-overdue improvements to the lives of Shandong's peasants, with programs in the areas of health care, education, flood control, irrigation, soil conservancy, reforestation, and industrial development.

Culture
The Daoist temple complex on Mount Tai and the birthplace of Confucius at Qufu are two of the most revered cultural sites in all of China.

Famous handicrafts made in Shandong include embroidered tablecloths, silks, poplins (decorated fabrics), precious stones, pottery and ceramics.

Some noted people born in Shandong:

• Confucius (Kong Fuzi), 551-479 BC, Chinese philosopher.
• Mencius, (Mengzi), c.372-c.289 BC, a major disciple of Confucius, called the "second sage".
• Zou Yan (Tsou Yen), 340-260? BC, Chinese philosopher and leading exponent of the Yin-Yang school.
• Xin Qiji (Hsin Ch'i-chi), 1140-1207, Chinese poet and master soldier.
• Li Qingzhao (Li Ch'ing-chao), 1081-after 1141, China's greatest woman poet.
• Wang Xizhi (Wang Hsi-chih), c. 303-c. 361, the most celebrated of Chinese calligraphers.
• Liang Kai (Liang K'ai), c. 1140-c. 1210, Chinese painter known primarily for paintings that reflect his interest in Zen Buddhism.
• Zhuge Liang (Chu-ko Liang), 181-234, legendary military tactician and adviser to Liu Pei, founder of the Shu Han dynasty (221-263/264).
• Pu Songlin (P'u Sung-ling, Liu Hsien, or Chien-ch'en), 1640-1715, Chinese fiction writer
  Mifune Toshiro, b.1920, leading actor in the post-World War II Japanese cinema
  Folklore

The ancient Chinese believed that Mount Tai in Shandong Province is where the sun begins its westward journey every morning, and many Chinese still make pilgrimages there to watch the sunrise. It is from this mountain that Confucius said "the world is small", and Mao Zedong declared "the east is red."

Literacy:
The number of those who have a college educational background is 3.0244 million, accounting for 3.33 percent of the total population; the number of those who have received high school (including vocational school) education is 10.02 million, accounting for 11.04 percent and that of those who have junior high school education is 33.26 million, 36.6 percent of the total; that of those who have primary education is 29.72 million, 32.7 percent. The number of illiterate (including those at the age of 15 or above cannot read or just read a little) is 7.6798 million.

Elevation extremes:
The central part of the province is a mountainous highland, with the summit of Mount Taishan, 1,545 meters above sea level, being the highest point. Most hills distributed in its eastern part are at the altitude of 500 meters and lower. Plains lying in its west and north are mostly below 50 meters in elevation. The lowest area of the province is the Yellow River Delta, which is generally 2-10 meters above sea level.

Shandong¡¯s topography is complicated and interwoven with nine types of landform, including plains, basins, hills, terraces, deltas and mountains. Mountainous area and plains account for 15.5 percent and 55 percent of the province¡¯s territory, while hilly areas are of 13.2 percent, and rivers and lakes, 1.1 percent.

Climate:
The province has a warm temperate monsoon climate with most rainfall concentrated in the hot summer. It has short spring and autumn but long winter and summer. The mean temperatures in a year are 11-14 ¡ãC. The annual average rainfall is between 550-950 mm. Natural calamities occur often.

Average Temperature: -5C to -1C in January, 24C to 28C in July

Annual Average Rainfall: 560 - 1,170 mm; precipitation decreases from the southeast to the northwest; 60-70 percent of the rain falls during the summer

Natural resources:
Mainly relying on rainfall, the province¡¯s water resource is in scarcity, with only 520 cubic meters of water available for each of its residents, accounting for 18.8 percent of the national average of 2,770 cubic meters per head. For the time being, the water-supply ability of the province is 19.224 billion cubic meters, including 7.844 billion cubic meters of surface water, 5.88 billion cubic meters of underground water and 5.5 billion cubic meters diverted from the Yellow River. When 75 percent of the supply is guaranteed, the province will have 6.4 cubic meters of surface water, 5.2 cubic meters of underground water and 5.5 cubic meters of Yellow River water, a volume of 17.138 cubic meters in total.

A total of 128 varieties of minerals, 78 percent of that found in China, have been discovered in the province, of which 33 have their surveyed deposits listed among the top tens of the nation: gold, natural sulphur and gypsum rank the first; petroleum, diamond, magnesite, cobalt, hafnium, and granite are the second; and kali salt, graphite, talc, bentonite, and limestone are the third. In addition, the reserves of many other minerals, such as natural gas, iron, barite, diatomite, zircon, bauxite, and refractory clay are also very affluent.

There are more than 3,100 varieties of plant, including 645 of wide cash, growing in the province. Among the 450 species of wild land vertebrate animals (accounting for 21 percent of the nation¡¯s total), 55 are beasts, 362 are birds, eight are amphibians and 25 are reptiles. In addition, there are many species of land invertebrates, insects in particular, making the province rank No. 1 in the country in varieties of creatures in this category.

One of China¡¯s major agricultural production bases, Shandong is known as ¡°a warehouse of grains, cotton, and oil, and the land of fruits and aquatic products.¡± It¡¯s also an important producer of wheat, cotton, peanut, tobacco, hemp, silkworms, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and materials. The apples produced in Yantai, pears from Laiyang, peaches of Feicheng, and Leling¡¯s golden-threaded jujubes are all famous specialties.

Shandong is rich in marine resources too. Its offshore area makes up 37 percent of the total surface area of the Bohai and Yellow seas, with a shoal area accounting for 15 percent of the nation¡¯s total. There are about 260 species of fish and prawn in its seas, including more than 40 major cash species of fish and 100 species of shellfish. Shangdong leads the country in the production of prawns, shellfishes, abalones, sea slugs and urchins. Meanwhile, with many large and medium-sized salt works, the province is also one of China¡¯s four major salt producers. In its 266,000 hectare of freshwaters, there are more than 40 species of freshwater plants and more than 70 species of fish.

The province is one of China¡¯s important energy bases, with Shengli Oilfield being the second largest of its kind in the country, and Zhongyuan, another oilfield, having a major part on its territory. The crude oil produced in Shandong makes up one-third of the nation¡¯s total. The province has 50,000 square kilometers of coalfields and its Yanteng Coalmine is one of the nation¡¯s 10 major coal production bases. The province has a rich electricity resource. The Shandong power network is the only one of the country¡¯s six major power networks that is operated separately on a provincial basis.

Tourist resources:
With beautiful natural landscapes and numerous historical and cultural relics, Shangdong has rich tourist resources. It offers a string of tourist attractions, such as Mount Taishan and the Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius, two World Heritage sites; Lingzi, capital of the ancient Qi State; Penglai, the well known ¡°fairyland on earth¡±; Mount Laoshan, a sacred land of Taoism; Weifang, the ¡°world capital of kites¡±; Qingdao, a charming coastal city famous for its annual International Beer Fair; Yantai, known worldwide as a wine producer; Rongcheng, a place considered as ¡°the edge of the world¡± by ancient Chinese; Jinan, the provincial capital honored as ¡°the city of springs¡±; and the site for watching the wonderful scene of the torrential Yellow River running into the sea.

Transportation
Highways:
The province is well known in the country for its highways, both in quantity and quality. Shandong is among the top provinces in the country that have built their highways with the longest mileage and the most density. So far, it has more than 50,000 km of highways, including 14 state highways totaling 4,395 km, 12,787 km provincial highways, 17,378 county highways and 19,786 km township roads. The highway density is 36.5 km per 100 square kilometers. In 2002, a total of 2,266 km expressways are in operation, making Shandong the No. 1 in the country in this respect.

Railways:
The province has a complete railway network. The Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Kowloon railways run north-south across the province and the Qingdao-Jinan and Rizhao-Shiyan railways traverse it from east to west. Through the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, one can reach Hong Kong from Shandong by train. Rizhao, the port city at the east end of the Rizhao-Shiyan Railway, has been designated by the state as one of the terminus stations on the new Asia-Europe transportation line. So far, the total length of provincial railways is more than 300 km, accounting for 11.5 percent of the railways operating in the province, ranking the sixth in the country¡¯s 25 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions who have their own local railways.

Airports:
Civil aviation has developed rapidly in the province. There are nine airports, including the ones of Jinan and Qingdao which serve as international airdromes and that of Yantai, an airport for international freight. Shandong has direct flights to Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Shandong Airlines now has 36 airplanes of various models, including Boeing¨C737, Challenger-200, Saab¡ª340 and others such as amphibious airplanes. It has 500 flights taking off each week.

Telecommunications
Telephones:
In 2001, the total business volume of telecommunication was 26.07 billion yuan. By May of 2002, the total volume had reached 13.06 billion yuan. The province has installed 15.881 million household telephones and the popularization of telephone has reached 12.4 sets per 100 persons.

By the end of 2001, the number of mobile phone users had reached 8.048 million, an increase of 60.6 percent over the preceding year.

Radio and TV stations:
There are 18 radio stations and 18 TV stations, in addition to 11 cable TV stations at the city and provincial levels. There are 83 broadcast and TV stations at county levels. There are 30 medium- and short-wave radio transmission and relay stations, and 93 TV transmission and relay stations with a power of 1,000 W or more. Its average daily radio broadcasting time is 1,104 hours and 2 minutes. And the average weekly TV program transmitting time has reached 4,171 hours and three minutes. Radio and TV coverage has reached 93.5 percent and 91 percent of the population respectively.