Shandong

- Total - Contribution to PRC

156.7 thousand km ² 1.63%

- Total 2004 - Density

95.79 million inhabitants 591 inhabitants / km ²

Shandong (山东chinese /山东), called in German Shantung or Schandong, is a province on China's east coast. Shandong is located on the lower reaches of the Yellow River ( Huang He). From 1898 to 1914 was a part of the province, namely the area of ​​Jiaozhou Bay as a colony of the German Empire. Neighboring provinces are Anhui, Hebei, Henan and Jiangsu.

• 2.1 antiquity
• 2.2 Middle Ages
• 2.3 19th to 21st Century

• 3.1 Agriculture
• 3.2 Mining
• 3.3 industry
• 3.4 services

Geography

Location

The east of the province is the Shandong peninsula between the Gulf of Bohai and the Yellow Sea. The coast of Shandong is 3000 km long. The Huang He flows in Shandong in the Bohai Gulf. It also includes some islands, especially the Miaodao Islands to the area of Shandong. West of the province is the Taihang Mountains, which Shandong received its present name, which may be translated with the east of the mountains.

Topography

One can divide the territory of the province into four parts:

Climate

Shandong has a monsoon climate in the temperate warm area with hot, rainy summers and dry, sunny winters. There are significant climatic differences between the coastal areas and the inland. The temperatures are in the annual average of 11 ° C on the northeast coast and 14.5 ° C in the west and south. The annual rainfall is 560 mm in the north- west and south-east to 1170 mm. Since 60 to 70 % of the precipitation in summer to fall, it may lead to flooding and drought in other seasons.

Waters

The Yellow River pushes Shandong Province his stamp on, because he is the one part of the flood plain on which is most of the province, responsible, on the other hand he repeatedly changed its course, with the population of the province was affected.

By the 4th century BC, the Yellow River ran in several poor by today's province, with most of these arms were north of its current run. Already about 2000 years ago we began the construction of dikes along the river, these dikes have somewhat limits the change of the river, but on the other hand, exacerbate the flooding when the river over the dikes occurs. In the 3000 years of history in China, the lower reaches of the Yellow River were flooded more than 1500 times. A significant change of the river occurred in 1128 when, after a great flood of the Yellow River in northern present-day Jiangsu began to flow into the Yellow Sea. In 1855, again after a catastrophic flood, the river bed was moving back towards the north, where it was to the 12th century and where it is located today. One consequence of this terrible flood was that the Emperor channel lost its navigability.

Major cities

The capital city of Shandong province Jinan, other important cities are: Jining, Tai'an, Qingdao, Weifang, Yantai and Zibo.

History

Antiquity

Because of its location on the edge of the North China Plain, Shandong has been exposed very early on the influence of Chinese civilization. Even the earliest dynasties ( the Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty ) controlled Western and Zentralshandong. The Shandong Peninsula initially was against it outside the Chinese sphere of influence. There, the people Laiyi, which was viewed as barbaric and was quickly sinicized lived.

At the time of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the time of the Warring States period, there were two in Shandong States: Qi in the area of ​​today's Linzi and Lu in the area of ​​today's Qufu. Lu was the home of Confucius. It was, however, relatively small, and finally succumbed to the located in the south Chu. The state of Qi was, however, the whole era of a greater power.

At the time of the Qin Dynasty, it was the first time a centralized Chinese state. During the subsequent Han Dynasty, there was in what is now Shandong two provinces: Qingzhou and Yanzhou.

At the time of the Three Kingdoms Shandong belonged to the Kingdom of Wei.

After a short time the unit Shandong was captured along with the rest of northern China by nomads from the north. In the next century the rulers of Shandong quickly changed.

Middle Ages

After the Song Dynasty, China had first reunited, she was forced to cede northern China in 1142, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty. Under the Jin Dynasty, the name was first used Shandong.

Under the Ming Dynasty, the province comprised approximately the same area as today, in addition some areas Liaoning ( in south Manchuria ).

The Manchus conquered the whole of China, Shandong in 1644, and founded the Qing Dynasty. Under this dynasty Shandong took more or less to its present boundaries. Shandong was one of China's regions with the most rebellions against the Qing. It is worth mentioning about the uprisings of the White Lotus sect, the Group of Eight Trigrams, which rebelled in 1780, or the Nian Rebellion; and the Boxer Rebellion had its roots in Shandong.

19th to 21st Century

During the 19th century, China was increasingly under Western influence and threat. Shandong was particularly affected by its location on the coast. The area Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong Province was a German colony. By the Treaty of Versailles was the area in 1919 to Japan, which caused the movement of the fourth of May.

In recent years, the economy Shandong - especially in the East - developed very quickly, and Shandong has become one of the richest provinces in China.

Economy

The economy of Shandong With a GDP of 3.1 trillion yuan (446 billion U.S. dollars ), the second largest in China. The GDP per capita is 33 083 yuan ( 4,749 U.S. dollars) per year and is the seventh highest in China.

Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for about 15% of GDP but employs more than half of the workforce Shandong. Among the main producing products include wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, potatoes and beans. Other important agricultural products are cotton, peanuts, tobacco and flax. Shandong is one of the three major cotton growing areas in northern China, also it is one of the most important growing areas of fruit and vegetables. Some 40% of China's peanuts are grown in Shandong. In two years, usually three crops are introduced. In some areas with good irrigation you can even achieve two harvests per year.

Livestock farming is also important, Shandong is the largest producer of poultry meat in China, next to it is one of the leading provinces in cattle, pigs and sheep. The coastal regions are rich in fish, crabs and seaweed; Nevertheless, the bulk part of fishing farmed.

Mining

The mineable resources are gas, oil, coal, iron, bauxite, diamond, sapphire and gold. Gold mining in Shandong ( Yantai ) is a leader in China. In the northwest Shandong, near Dongying, lies the Shengli oil field, which is part of China's largest oil fields.

Industry

The industry accounts for half of GDP and employs about a quarter of the workforce. The center of the industry lies in Qingdao, Jinan and to a lesser extent in Gaomi, next to Zibo and the surrounding area is a new center of the petrochemical industry. Major industries include the food industry, paper, household appliances, construction materials, textiles, iron and steel industry, mechanical engineering and the rubber industry. In 2000, a quarter of the state-owned companies, but the 40% of sales generated. Generally dominated by large companies, half of GDP is generated by only 1,000 companies.

Services

The service sector generates 35% of GDP and employs 25 % of the workforce. Trade, hotels and transport play important roles; Foreign trade and international tourism play a subordinate role.

Traffic

The railway lines from Beijing to Shanghai and Beijing to Hong Kong traverse the west Shandong. Other railway line running from Qingdao to Jinan and Qingdao to Yantai. There are also several smaller railway lines, a total comprised the railway network in 2000, more than 2400 km.

In Shandong, there is a dense and uniformly distributed over the province road network. There are more than 71,000 km of roads, of which more than 2000 km of motorway.

Major ports are in Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Rizhao and; Qingdao is measured at the cargo, the seventh largest port in China. The most important is the water side, Xiaoqing; overall there are more than 2500 km of waterways navigable.

Larger airports are in Jinan and Qingdao. From Yantai to Dalian, which lies on the other side of the Bohai Gulf in the province of Liaoning, there has recently been the first commercial seaplane route.

Population

The population of Shandong is with 95.79 million people according to the Guangdong is the second largest in China. 7.06 % of the population of the People's Republic of living in this province. The population density is 582 inhabitants per square kilometer, making it the second highest among Chinese provinces or the fifth highest, if you include the administered municipalities. However, the population growth is in the national comparison low, in spite of the immigration in the affluent cities. Also, there is a high in Shandong balance between male and female population ( about 102 men to 100 women in 2000). The urbanization rate in 2000 was reported to be 38%.

99.3 % of the population is Han Chinese. Larger ethnic minorities are the Hui (0.6%) and the Manchus.

Administrative Divisions

Shandong is divided into 17 prefecture-level cities:

• Jinan (济南 市/济南 市, Jǐnán Shì )
• Liaocheng (聊城市, Liaocheng Shì )
• Dezhou (德 州市, Dezhou Shì )
• Dongying (东营 市/东营 市, Dongying Shì )
• Zibo (淄博 市, Zibo Shì )
• Weifang (潍坊 市/潍坊 市, Weifang Shì )
• Yantai (烟台 市/烟台 市, Yantai Shì )
• Weihai (威海 市, Wēihǎi Shì )
• Qingdao (青岛 市/青岛 市, Qīngdǎo Shì )
• Rizhao (日照 市, Rizhao Shì )
• Linyi (临沂 市/临沂 市, Linyi Shì )
• Zaozhuang (枣庄 市/枣庄 市, Zǎozhuāng Shì )
• Jining (济宁 市/济宁 市, Jining Shì )
• Tai'an (泰安 市, Tai'an Shì )
• Laiwu (莱芜 市/莱芜 市, Laiwu Shì )
• Binzhou (滨洲 市/滨洲 市, Binzhou Shì )
• Heze (荷泽市/荷泽市, Heze Shì )

Attractions

Of the five sacred mountains of Taoism in China, the Tai Shan is the most famous, albeit with a height of 1,545 m by no means the highest. In ancient Chinese world view, which considered the Middle Kingdom as a square, embodies the Tai Shan the eastern Eckberg.

Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, one of the national treasures of first order.

Personalities

From Shandong Confucius and Mencius come next, which was born in the state of Zhou in the southern present-day Shandong, one of the foremost disciples of Confucius and received its heritage. Another important philosopher was from Shandong Zou Yan, BC, developed the theory of the five elements in the 3rd century. From region to Jinan came Bian Que, who is considered the inventor of the traditional Chinese medicine. Zhou Yongnian, also from Jinan, was the founder of the Chinese librarianship. In the 12th century Li Qingzhao was one of the most important poets of the country. Another personality from Shandong is the modern artist Liu Bolin, who was famous for his images " Man Invisible".

Education

The illiteracy rate in Shandong is 8.5% (2000 ) is relatively high and the second highest in eastern China.