Jinan, capital of Shandong Province on China's east coast, is the province's political, economic and cultural center.
Jinan has jurisdiction over five districts (Lixia, Licheng, Huaiyin, Tianqiao and Shizhong), four counties (Changqing, Pingyin, Shanghe and Jiyang) and Zhangqiu City, with a total area of 8,227 sq. km and a population of 5.49 million, including 2.54 million urban people.
Located in the western part of the center of Shandong Province, Jinan is at the juncture of the Beijing-Shanghai and Qingdao-Jinan railways. Nearby to the south is Mount Tai, officially recognized by the United Nation as part of the world's natural and cultural heritage. To the north is the Yellow River, which is called the "cradle of the Chinese nation."
With a warm-temperate continental monsoon climate and clear-cut seasonal changes, Jinan has an average annual temperature of 14 C and an annual mean precipitation of 650-700 mm.
Thanks to its long history, Jinan has been designated by the State Council as a famous historical and cultural city. As Jinan boasts a number of natural springs amid picturesque scenery, it is known as the "City of Springs." The city tree of Jinan is the willow, and the city flower is the lotus.

History and Culture
Jinan was one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Cultural relics representing the Xihe Culture (7,300-8,400 years ago), especially pottery, have been discovered in the city. Chengzi Cliff in the eastern suburbs has yielded traces of the Longshan Culture of the late New Stone Age (4,000-4,600 years ago), marked by distinctive black pottery. About 200,000 sq.m of the remains of a settlement indicate that Jinan has a history of over 4,000 years.

Jinan has a large number of cultural relics and historical sites, such as the cultural relics of the Shun Culture, including Mount Shungeng, the Shun Well, the Eying River and the Shun Temple; the part of the great wall built by the State of Qi (in the third century B.C), which was built before the famous Great Wall constructed in the Qin Dynasty; the Stone Shrine at the Guo Family Mausoleum (built during the Han Dynasty in the first century B.C) on Xiaotang Hill--the oldest surviving surface edifice in China; the Four-Door Pagoda at Liubu, dating from the Sui Dynasty (581-618)--the oldest stone pagoda in China; and the colored art sculptures of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) in the Lingyan Temple, known as the "foremost sculptures in China."

Jinan has produced many celebrities in Chinese history, such as Bian Que, the founder of traditional Chinese medicine, Master Zou Yan, the founder of the yin and yang five-element school (metal, wood, water, fire and earth, used in traditional Chinese medicine to explain various physiological and pathological phenomena), Fang Xuanling and Qin Qiong, founders of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Li Qingzhao, Xin Qiji, Zhang Yanghao, Li Kaixian and other noted Chinese writers, Zhou Yongnian, the founder of China's public libraries, and Wei Xiang, a leading architect. In addition, many outstanding writers and poets, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi and Zeng Gong, once lived in or visited Jinan. Hence it is also called the "city of celebrities."

While carrying forward the old cultural traditions, Jinan's modern culture is developing vigorously. In recent years, Jinan's cultural exchanges with the outside world have made great progress. The city's acrobatic troupes and other art ensembles have visited more than 30 countries and regions, and foreign art troupes come here to give performances every year. The item "kicking the wooden bench" executed by the Jinan City Acrobatic Troupe won gold medals at the London 11th World Acrobatic Championships and the Pairs 10th World "Tomorrow" Acrobatic and Circus Festival.

Night View at the City of Springs

Urban Construction

For the past five years, working to promote modernization, Jinan has stressed traffic improvement, environment protection, construction of landmark buildings, afforestation and beautification and the preservation of its famous springs, while increasing service facilities for the people's convenience. A large number of important infrastructure facilities and magnificent buildings have been constructed.As a result, great changes have taken place in the city's appearance and functions.
The New Jinan Railway Station and the first phase of the construction of the Jinan International Airport have been completed and the second phase of the airport has started. More than 50 roads, including the Erhuan and Beiyuan roads, have been newly constructed or expanded together with the Quanfu Overpass and 40 other permanent bridges. Some 140 modern skyscrapers now tower over the city. Greenbelts composed of arbors, bushes, flowers and grass have been cultivated along the 20-odd main roads. In 1997, another 1.98 million sq. m of greenery was planted, raising the coverage of green area to 31 percent. Jinan has been cited as one of the top 10 cities in the country with excellent sanitation three years running. In addition, the Ministry of Construction has conferred on it the titles of "clean city" and "advanced city in comprehensive administration."

Traffic

With the approval of the State Council, Jinan became part of China's open coastal area in 1990, speeding up its pace of opening to the outside world.
Jinan is a hub of communications of railways, roads and air transport in the province of Shandong. The Beijing-Shanghai and Jiaozhou-Jinan railways meet here, linking Jinan to Beijing and Tianjin in the north, Nanjing, Shanghai and Fuzhou in the south, and Qingdao and Yantai in the east. Jinan International Airport operates more than 30 regular flights to Hongkong, Beijing, Harbin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Xi'an, Wuhan, Zhuhai and Haikou. It also operates an international airfreight route between Jinan and Russia. The city has an international container distribution center and a land freight route for goods to and from Jinan to Hongkong. The expressway from Jinan to Qingdao was one of the first to be completed in China. At present, Jinan is speeding up the construction of expressways from Jinan to Tai'an in the south and Jinan to Dezhou in the north and its ring-road expressway. With a modern, comprehensive rail, road and air transportation system, Jinan is well connected with other places in Shandong, other cities in China and foreign countries.

Cuisine

China is known as the "Kingdom of Cooking" and Shandong dishes is listed one of China's four top dishes--Shandong¡¢Sichuan¡¢Huaiyang and Cantonese. It represents China's northern dishes and has won high reputation from both Chinese and foreigners.
Shandong dishes is a pearl of Qilu Culture dating back to over two thousand years. It has unique flavor and adopting good points from all other dishes, together with Confucian home-cooked dishes, Jiaodong and Jinan style are said to be three essential Shandong dishes.
Jinan is the place where Shandong cuisine originated. Jinan dishes are known for their fragrance, deliciousness, tenderness and purity. Of the 1,000-odd varieties of Jinan dishes, fried carp with sweet and sour sauce, large Jiuzhuan (nine-twist) sausages, stir-fried chicken cubes with chili sauce and peanuts, Yuji braised chicken, and milk soup with cattail are popular with both the locals and visitors.