Shandong is a coastal province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu was the birthplace of Confucius, and later became the center of Confucianism.

The Yellow River is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system on Earth at the estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi). Originating at an elevation above 15,000 feet in the Bayan Har Mountains, it empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization. Its yellow sediments are carried downstream from the Loess Plateau. The river experiences frequent devastating floods and course changes produced by the continual elevation of the river bed, sometimes above the level of its surrounding farm fields.