Brief Introduction To Shandong Province

    General Introduction: Lying on the East China seaboard where the Yellow River empties into the sea, Shandong Province forms a part of a large peninsula that thrusts far out into the Yellow Sea. Along its 3,000-km coastline are 25 ports, the biggest being Qingdao, Rizhao, Weihai, Yantai and Longkou. The province has an area of 156, 7000 sq km and a population of 86,432,000. The provincial capital is Jinan, a rail and highway hub in western Shandong
now connected by a newly completed 318-km expressway with Qingdao, the largest port on the Shandong coast.

    Climate: Shandong has a warm-temperate monsoonal climate, with hot, rainy summers and dry, sunny winters. In winter, it is more humid and warm in Shandong than in north China. Its coastal and inland regions experience a sharp difference in climate. Shandong has a mean annual temperature of 12¡ã£­14¡ãC, increasing from the northeastern seaboard to the west and the south, and a mean annual precipitation of 500-900 mm or more, increasing from northwest to southeast.

Taishan Mountain

    Topography: Shandong with its peninsular and mainland parts may be divided into four topographical zones: 1) The Northwestern Shandong Plain, formed mainly by the deposits of the Yellow River, is part of the North China Plain. Crisscrossed by the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, it is an important farming area. 2) The Jiaolai Plain between the central-south Shandong and the Jiaodong hilly regions is bounded by sea bays on its northern and southern tips and is traversed by the Jiaolai, Weihe and Dagu rivers. 3) The Central-South Shandong hilly area is elevated in the middle and slopes gently in four directions. Over 1,000 meters above sea level, it is composed of the Taishan, Lushan, Yishan and Mengshan mountains. 4) The Jiaodong Hilly Area is the main part of the Shandong Peninsula.
    The Yellow River and the Grand Canal are the major waterways. The section of the Yellow River in Shandong runs is than 600 kilometers long, flowing northeast until it empties into the Bohai Sea east of Lijin. The section of the Grand Canal in this province totals about 500 kilometers in length. It flows from north to south across the plain in the west where it meets the Yellow River.

Penglai, the well known ¡°fairyland on earth¡±

    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.