Heze

Heze is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong , People's Republic of China. The westernmost prefecture-level city in Shandong, it borders Jining to the east and the provinces of Henan and Anhui to the west and south respectively.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Heze administers 9 , including 1 and 8 .

*Mudan District
*Dingtao County
*Cao County
*Chengwu County
*Shan County
*Juye County
*Yuncheng County
*Juancheng County
*Dongming County

These are further divided into 158 .

Economy

Heze is the largest center in China for the cultivation of the "national flower" peony, after which the Mudan District was named.
Over 30% of its national income comes from the sale of peony.
According to the government's materials in 1995,there is about 800,000 people living in this areas.

Haiyang

Haiyang is a county-level city in Yantai prefecture-level city, Shandong province, in eastern . It is located in the center of Qingdao, Yantai, and Weihai.

Haiyang is known for its extensive sea beach, national forest parks, wetland reserves and the prime location for various beach and yacht activities.

Haiyang is the host city for 2012 Asia Beach Games which was announced by Asian Olympic Council in Doha on December 2, 2006.

Gaomi

Gaomi is a county-level city of the People's Republic of China province of Shandong under Weifang .

Longkou

Longkou is a port city in northeastern , on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Longkou, a county-level city, is administered by the prefecture-level city of Yantai. The total population of Longkou is 620,000.

History

Longkou city was formerly known as Huangxian County. It is located in the northwest of Shandong Peninsula and the south bank of Bohai Bay. Longkou is a coastal harbour city adjacent to Yantai to the east, linked to Qingdao to the south, west of Weifang. It is opposite to famous cities like Tianjin, Dalian, Qinhuangdao and Beidaihe as well as Korean Peninsula. Longkou is one of the energetic regions in the economic rings around Bohai Sea. The county level city covers an area of 893 km² with coastline of 68.4 kilometres.

Geography

Longkou is quite mountainous in the south and flat plains to the north. It has with low hills in the southeast and littoral plains in the northwest. There are mountains and rivers surrounding Longkou. The annual average temperature within the city is 11.7°C, no freezing winter or scorching heat in summer.

Economy

Longkou is well known for its production of cellophane noodles.

Linyi

Linyi is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong , People's Republic of China. The largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to the north, Tai'an to the northwest, Jining to the west, Zaozhuang to the southwest, and the province of Jiangsu to the south.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Linyi administers 12 , including 3 and 9 .

*Lanshan District
*Luozhuang District
*Hedong District
*Tancheng County
*Cangshan County
*Junan County
*Yishui County
*Mengyin County
*Pingyi County
*Fei County
*Yinan County
*Linshu County

These are further divided into 181 .

History

Linyi is about 2400 years old. In the 1970s Sun Tzu's Art of War was unearthed here.

In the spring of 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the city was the scene of fierce fighting between Chinese and Japanese troops. The Chinese, encouraged by the success of their military in the nearby Battle of Tai'erzhuang, defended Linyi fiercely, but Japanese soldiers breached the walls on April 19, 1938. The defenders withdrew the next day to another contested area 30 miles away.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in October 1949, the administrative division was adjusted.

Geography and climate

Linyi enjoys a temperate climate and high precipitation. The lie of the land varies, with mountains, hills, and plains accounting for approximately equal parts of the total area. The entire jurisdiction covers 17,184 km? and the total population is close to 10 million, making this the largest administrative division in the province in both geographic and demographic terms.

Economy

Linyi's economy is based around its wholesale markets . The Linyi Wholesale City is ranked 3rd in its category in China with an annual trade volume of 40 billion RMB . The Linyi prefecture has developed more than 1,500 specialized villages, over 80 specialized towns and nearly 800 industrialized agricultural enterprises.

In 2002 the prefecture's GDP was 71 billion RMB comprising 12 billion RMB from primary industry, 34 billion RMB from secondary industry and 25 billion RMB from tertiary industry. Main industrial products are: textiles, foodstuffs, machinery, electronics, chemicals, building materials, coal, medicines, gold and porcelain.

In 2003 there were 77 enterprises with a pre-tax profit above 10 million RMB and 7 enterprises with a pre-tax profit above 100 million RMB .

Machinery is exported to Europe, the Americas and south-east Asia. Linyi prefecture has an annual capacity of 3 million tons of compound fertilizers.

Notable people

*Wang Xizhi , Eastern Jin Dynasty calligrapher
*Zhuge Liang , statesman and strategist

Cultural Attractions

Linyi's focal point is the People's Square . It was built in the early 1990's on the site of an old army barracks. It is about 500 metres east-west, and about 300 metres north-south. Underneath it is a shopping centre and entertainment facilities.

Just north of the city centre is a park dedicated to Wang Xizhi. For a small entrance fee tourists can enjoy a pleasant walk and try Chinese calligraphy.

Near the centre of Linyi city is a museum which houses some original bamboo strips from the Sun Tzu era.

Linqing

Linqing is a city located at , North-Northwest of the prefectural capital Liaocheng in the Chinese province of Shandong. The city proper has about 143,000 residents , thought Linqing County as a whole had inhabitants in 1999. The city is at the point where Wei He and the flow together. It is 380km from Beijing on the Jingjiu railway line to Hong Kong. Elevation within Linqing County ranges from 29m to 38m above sea level. The area of the county is 955 km?.
Annual mean temperature 12.8℃, highest recorded temperature 41.4℃, lowest recorded temperature - 22.1℃. Annual mean precipitation 590.4 millimeters. 205 average frost-free days per year. Average annual sunshine is 2661 hours.

Linqing has played an important role in the history of China. In Ming and Qing times it was a great center for the distribution of textiles, grain and bricks and is also famous as the place where the tiles of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City were produced. Today the city's flourishing economy is based on a number of light industrial enterprises.

Aside from the Grand Canal, sights include a distinctive promontory, a stupa, a mosque, and ruins of the old customs house. The Sheli Pagoda near the Grand Canal is a well-known local landmark.

Notable natives of Linqing include: Tang Dynasty musician Lu Cai, Ming Dynasty poet Xie Zhen, national hero Zhang Zizhong, and contemporary renowned educator Ji Xianlin

Once visited by the missionary and Sinologist Matteo Ricci, Linqing has been the seat of an apostolic prefecture since 1931. The seat has been vacant since 1981.

Linjialing

Linjialing is a small village a few kilometers outside Wendeng in , . Its inhabitants are mainly farmers, but a large minority work in factories,and some work on building sites, due to china's rapid expansion.

Linjialing is almost entirely inhabited by Chinese , with a small number of South Koreans as well, due to the village's quiet friendliness and Shandong's close proximity to South Korea.

Although the villagers understand mainstream , they speak in a local variant of called ''wen deng hua''.