1.
County-level city
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A county-level municipality, county-level city, or county city is a county-level administrative division of mainland China. County-level cities are governed by prefecture-level divisions, but a few are governed directly by province-level divisions. Most county-level cities were created in the 1980s and 1990s by replacing counties, a county-level city is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is an entity. County-level cities are not cities in the strictest sense of the word, since they usually contain rural areas many times the size of their urban and this is because the counties that county-level cities have replaced are themselves large administrative units containing towns, villages, and farmland. To distinguish a city from its actual urban area, the term 市区 shìqū. In France, an equivalent of a city is an agglomeration community. For example, in New South Wales such a unit may often be called a city, city of Blue Mountains is made of a number of towns. Another example would be municipal government in the Canadian province of Ontario and this agglomeration includes all of the townships in the county of Kent, with cities and towns like Wallaceberg, Thamesville, Dresden, Wheatley. This amalgamation as it is referred to, was controversial when it was forced upon the constituents through provincial legislation. Today, instead of each city having its own mayor and city councillors, as of January 2017, there are 360 County-level city in total, A sub-prefecture-level city is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefecture-level cities. Examples include, Xiantao, Qianjiang, Tianmen and Jiyuan, administrative divisions of China Counties of the Peoples Republic of China Prefecture-level city List of cities in China
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
4.
Provinces of China
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Provinces, formally provincial-level administrative divisions or first-level administrative divisions, are the highest-level Chinese administrative divisions. There are 34 such divisions, classified as 23 provinces, four municipalities, five autonomous regions, the Peoples Republic of China claims sovereignty over the territory administered by the Republic of China, claiming most of it as its Taiwan Province. The ROC also administers some offshore islands which form Fujian Province and these were part of an originally unified Fujian province, which since the stalemate of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 has been divided between the PRC and ROC. Note that every province has a Communist Party of China provincial committee, the committee secretary is in effective charge of the province, rather than the nominal governor of the provincial government. The government of each province is nominally led by a provincial committee. The committee secretary is first-in-charge of the province, second-in-command is the governor of the provincial government, the Peoples Republic of China claims the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islets, including Penghu, as Taiwan Province. The territory is controlled by the Republic of China, a municipality or direct-controlled municipality is a higher level of city which is directly under the Chinese government, with status equal to that of the provinces. In practice, their status is higher than that of common provinces. The governor of each region is usually appointed from the respective minority ethnic group. A special administrative region is an autonomous and self-governing subnational subject of the Peoples Republic of China that is directly under the Central Peoples Government. Each SAR has an executive as head of the region. The regions government is not fully independent, as policy and military defence are the responsibility of the central government. Notes,1, as of 20102, per km23, km24, Abbreviation in the parentheses is informal 5, Since founding in 1949, however, the PRC has never controlled Taiwan. Taiwan currently administers Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the subject of whether or not Taiwan is part of China is often debated, with no clear conclusion. The Ming Dynasty kept the system set up by the Yuan Dynasty, however. By the time of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644 there were 18 provinces, in addition, there was a zongdu, a general military inspector or governor general, for every two to three provinces. Outer regions of China were not divided into provinces, military leaders or generals oversaw Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Mongolia, while vice-dutong and civilian leaders headed the leagues, a subdivision of Mongolia. The ambans supervised the administration of Tibet, in 1884 Xinjiang became a province, in 1907 Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were made provinces as well
5.
Shandong
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Shandong is a coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China, and is part of the East China region. Shandongs Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and one of the sites with the longest history of continuous religious worship. The Buddhist temples in the mountains to the south of the capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius, and was established as the center of Confucianism. Individually, the two Chinese characters in the name Shandong mean mountain and east, Shandong could hence be translated literally as east of the mountains and refers to the provinces location to the east of the Taihang Mountains. A common nickname for Shandong is Qílǔ, after the States of Qi and Lu that existed in the area during the Spring and Autumn period. Whereas the State of Qi was a power of its era. Lu, however, became renowned for being the home of Confucius, the cultural dominance of the State of Lu heritage is reflected in the official abbreviation for Shandong which is 鲁. English speakers in the 19th century called the province Shan-tung, the province is on the eastern edge of the North China Plain and in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and extends out to sea as the Shandong Peninsula. The earliest dynasties exerted varying degrees of control over western Shandong, over subsequent centuries, the Dongyi were eventually sinicized. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, at this time, Shandong was home to two major states, the state of Qi at Linzi and the state of Lu at Qufu. Lu is noted for being the home of Confucius, the state was, however, comparatively small, and eventually succumbed to the larger state of Chu from the south. The state of Qi was, on the hand, was a major power throughout the period. Cities it ruled included Linzi, Jimo and Ju, the Qin dynasty conquered Qi and founded the first centralized Chinese state in 221 BCE. The Han dynasty that followed created a number of commanderies supervised by two regions in what is now modern Shandong, Qingzhou in the north and Yanzhou in the south, during the division of the Three Kingdoms, Shandong belonged to the Cao Wei, which ruled over northern China. After the Three Kingdoms period, a period of unity under the Western Jin dynasty gave way to invasions by nomadic peoples from the north. Northern China, including Shandong, was overrun, Shandong stayed with the Northern Dynasties for the rest of this period. The Sui dynasty reestablished unity in 589, and the Tang dynasty presided over the golden age of China
6.
Prefecture-level city
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Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative structure. Administrative chiefs of prefectural level cities generally have the rank as a division chief of a national ministry. Since the 1980s, most former prefectures have been renamed into prefectural level cities, a prefectural level city is a city and prefecture that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. The larger prefectural level cities span over 100 kilometres, prefectural level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county level cities, and other such sub-divisions. To distinguish a prefectural level city from its urban area. The first prefectural level cities were created on 5 November 1983, over the following two decades, prefectural level cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures, the process is still ongoing. Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefectural level cities, shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou are the largest prefectural level cities with populations approaching or exceeding some sub-provincial cities. A sub-prefecture-level city is a city with powers approaching those of prefectural level cities. There are total of three classification of prefecture-level city, Regular prefectural level city which consist of counties, county level cities, consolidated district-governed prefectural level city which only consist of districts as it subdivisions. Thus, Bloomington, Indiana is indicated on the map by a point, which is distinct from, and enclosed by, in China, however, large cities such as City of Xianning may, in reality, contain both urban and rural elements. Moreover, they may enclose counties or other cities, on a less detailed map, City of Xianning would be indicated by a point, more or less corresponding to the coordinates of its city government. Other populous areas may also be exhibited as points, such as County of Tongshan, with no indication that County of Tongshan is, in fact, enclosed by City of Xianning. On a more detailed map, City of Xianning would be drawn as an area, similar to a county of the United States and this convention may lead to difficulty in the identification of places mentioned in older sources. For example, Guo Moruo writes that he was born in Town of Shawan, within Prefecture of Leshan, and attended primary school in Town of Jiading. A modern map is unlikely to show either town, Shawan, because it is too small, and Jiading, because it is the seat of City of Leshan, and is therefore indicated on the map by a point labelled Leshan. A more detailed map would show Shawan as a district within City of Leshan, statistics of China such as population and industrial activity are generally reported along prefectural city lines. Thus, the relatively unknown City of Huangshi has 2.5 million residents, more than most European capitals, but upon closer inspection, furthermore, Huangshi contains several other cities, such as City of Daye. If a person wished to calculate the population of the area of Huangshi, and had a map of Huangshi, and a table of its population by district
7.
Yantai
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Yantai, formerly known as Zhifu or Chefoo, is a prefecture-level city on the Bohai Strait in northeastern Shandong Province, China. Lying on the southern coast of the Korea Bay, Yantai borders Qingdao on the southwest and it is the largest fishing seaport in Shandong. Its population was 6,968,202 during the 2010 census, of whom 2,227,733 lived in the area made up of the 4 urban districts of Zhifu, Muping, Fushan. The name Yantai derives from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398 under the reign of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty, the towers were used to light signal fires and send smoke signals, called langyan from their supposed use of wolf dung for fuel. At the time, the area was troubled by the Dwarf Pirates, initially raiders from the states in Japan. It was also formerly romanized as Yen-tai, the major district of Yantai is Zhifu, which used to be the largest independent city in the area. It was variously romanized as Chefoo, Che-foo, Chi-fu, although this name was used for the city by foreigners prior to the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the locals referred to the settlement as Yantai throughout. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the region was inhabited by indigenous peoples known to the Chinese as the Eastern Barbarians. Under the Zhou, they were colonized and sinicized as the state of Lai. Lai was annexed by Qi in 567 BC, under the First Emperor, the area was administered as the Qi Commandery. Under the Han, this was renamed as the Donglai Commandery, following the Three Kingdoms Period, the area was organized by the Jin as the Donglai Kingdom or Principality, later returning to prefecture status as a jùn and then zhōu. Under the Tang and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, it was known as Deng Prefecture and it was then organized as the Laizhou and then, under the Qing, Dengzhou Commandery. Up to the 19th century, however, the Zhifu area consisted of nothing, following the Second Opium War, the Qing Empire was obliged to open more treaty ports by the unequal 1858 Treaty of Tianjin, including Tengchow. Its port being found inadequate, Zhifu—about 30 miles away—was selected to act as the seat of the foreign commerce. The mooring was at considerable distance from shore, necessitating more time and expense in loading and unloading, the harbor opened in May 1861, with its status as an international port affirmed on 22 August. The official decree was accompanied by the construction of the Donghai Pass and it quickly became the residence of a circuit intendant, customs house, and a considerable foreign settlement located between the old native town and the harbor. Britain and sixteen other nations established consulates in the town, the principal traders were the British and Americans, followed by the Germans and Thais. The town also traded Chinese liquors and sundries for the seaweed grown in the shallows of the Russian settlements around Port Arthur. In 1875, the murder of the British diplomat Augustus Margary in Tengchong, Yunnan, led to a crisis that was resolved in Zhifu by Thomas Wade
8.
Time in China
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The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08,00, despite China spanning five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called Beijing Time domestically and China Standard Time internationally, daylight saving time has not been observed since 1991. The special administrative regions maintain their own authorities, with standards called Hong Kong Time. These have been equivalent to Beijing time since 1992, in addition, a second time standard is used in Xinjiang, two hours less than the Beijing Time, which is called Ürümqi Time or Xinjiang Time. In 1912, the Republic of China established five standard time zones, namely Kunlun, Sinkiang-Tibet, Kansu-Szechwan, Chungyuan, and Changpai. The unified time zone policy was adopted by the Communist Party of China or the Central People’s Government some time between 27 September 1949 and 6 October 1949, the date is unknown. However, recent research suggests that the policy was most likely adopted on 27 September 1949, daylight saving time was observed from 1986 to 1991. In 1997 and 1999, Hong Kong and Macau were transferred to China from the United Kingdom and Portugal, although the sovereignty of the SARs belongs to China, they retain their own policies regarding time zones for historical reasons. Due to their locations, both are within the UTC+08,00 time zone, which is the same as the national standard — Beijing time. Xinjiang Time, also known as Ürümqi Time, is set due to its location in the westernmost part of the country. The time offset is UTC+06,00, which is two hours behind Beijing, and is shared with neighbouring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Currently, timezone usage within Xinjiang is roughly split along the divide, with most ethnic Han following Beijing time. Some local authorities are now using both time standard side by side, the coexistence of two timezones within the same region causes some confusion among the local population, especially when inter-racial communication occur. Some ethnic Han in Xinjiang might not be aware of the existence of the UTC+6 Xinjiang Time because of language barrier, regardless, Beijing Time users in Xinjiang usually schedule their daily activities two hours later than those who live in eastern China. As such, stores and offices in Xinjiang are commonly opening from 10am to 7pm Beijing Time and this is known as the work/rest time in Xinjiang. Hong Kong maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the Hong Kong Time is UTC+08,00 all year round, and daylight saving time has not been used since 1979. Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904, before that, local time was determined by astronomical observations at Hong Kong Observatory using a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle. Macau maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1999, the Macau Standard Time is the time in Macau
9.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
10.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
11.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
12.
Shandong Peninsula
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The Shandong Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong province in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The peninsulas territory comprises three cities of Shandong province, Qingdao in the southwest, Yantai in the north and centre. The Kiautschou Bay concession was a concession of the German Empire from 1898 to 1914 located around Jiaozhou Bay, as a consequence of the First World War, Germany lost Qingdao and its sphere of influence in Shandong. The Treaty of Versailles transferred the German concessions in Shandong to the Empire of Japan instead of restoring Chinese sovereignty over the area, popular dissatisfaction with this outcome, referred to as the Shandong Problem, led to the May Fourth Movement. Shandong reverted to Chinese control in 1922 after mediation by the United States during the Washington Naval Conference, however, Japan retained economic influence in the area
13.
Penglai, Shandong
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Penglai, formerly known as Dengzhou or Tengchow, is a county-level city belonging to the prefecture-level city of Yantai, Shandong Province, in the Peoples Republic of China. It lies on the northwest corner of the Shandong Peninsula on the southern coast of the Gulf of Bohai, the city is famous for its mirages out at sea, which are frequent during May and June. Penglai is entirely surrounded by other divisions of Yantai, Fushan District is to the east, Longkou City to the west, the Martial Emperor of Han later also visited the area while searching for the elixir of immortality. The old city walls incorporate guard towers of three stories because the uncle of the first emperor of the 6th-century Sui dynasty had been prince of the area, under the Ming, the harbor was fortified and used by the warjunks of the imperial navy. Following the Second Opium War, Dengzhou became the first port opened to foreigners on the Shandong Peninsula in 1858, the harbor was found inadequate for the traders, however, and Zhifu was developed 30 miles away to function as Dengzhous port. 374,400 Penglai citizens work in agriculture, with the remaining 75,600 in various other sectors, Penglai has been ranked by the Chinese government as a top domestic tourist destination. Its Water Fortress, a harbor, is one of Chinas oldest military ports. It was built under the Ming in 1376 and housed a fleet of warjunks and it is now a protected historical monument being renovated at a cost of 500m RMB. There is a walk along the cliffs nearby. More than US$25 million has also invested into developing the Penglai Pavilion. The Penglai Pavilion is a park of ancient buildings, palaces and temples. It has been a tourist goal for more than a thousand years, among other cultural attractions of Penglai are the Naval Museum with exhibits of ancient ships and the restored residence of the famous patriotic general Qi Jiguang. Penglai also has the largest ocean aquarium in Asia and it includes a polar area, a shark hall, a tropical rainforest, and a theater with mermaids, dolphins and sea lions. A picturesque festival takes place in January for the birthday of Tianhou, the production of wine is the second largest industry in the province. However, in Penglai, tourism is the industry. The hills south of Penglai have an elevation of 200 metres. Most of the soil is loose, well-aerated, and rich in minerals, the wineries are located mainly in the Nanwang Grape Valley and along the Yan-Peng Sightseeing Highway. The main varieties grown there, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Gernischt, Merlot, Riesling and Chardonnay, are all reaching 20 years of age, most of them maintain an average sugar content of above 20%
14.
Longkou
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Longkou, formerly Huang County, is a port city in northeastern Shandong province, China, facing the Bohai Sea to the north and the Laizhou Bay to the west. Longkou, a city, is administered by the prefecture-level city of Yantai. The total population of Longkou is 620,000, Longkou was formerly known as Huang County, and was renamed to the current name in 1986. Its administrative area covers 893 km2 and contains a coastline of 68.4 km, 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
15.
Laizhou
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Laizhou, formerly romanized as Laichow, is a county-level city in Yantai Prefecture, Shandong Province, China. As of 2008, Laizhou had a population of 902,000, Laizhou traditionally boasts strong economy due to its abundant natural resources, such as gold, magnesium, granite, and salt. Laizhou produces about 15% of the production of the whole nation. It is ranked 37th among the similar size cities in the nation, in 2010, the GDP of Laizhou reached $7.3 billion USD. Laizhou Port is one of the ports in the Yellow River Delta. Laizhou embraces Bohai Bay to its west border and is famous for swimming crabs, claimed as the Capital of the Chinese Rose, Laizhou hosts Chinese Rose Festival on May 25 every year, attracting thousands of visitors. Laizhou is also known for its creative straw handmade crafts. Li Denghai, a Laizhou native, is called Godfather of Compact Planting Hybrid Maize for his contribution, Laizhou No.1 High School ranks among the top 100 high schools in China, has sent thousands of graduates to top universities all over the nation. Laizhou Martial Arts Institute was selected to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony
16.
Changdao County
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The Changdao County is a county in Yantai, an area of Shandong in the Peoples Republic of China. It consists of the Changshan Island chain in the Bohai Sea and they are known for their sandy beaches and picturesque limestone cliffs. The total land area is only 56 square kilometers, but the coastline is 146 km long, ten of the islands are occupied, and there are twenty-two uninhabited islands, some little more than sand spits. There is one town, Touji Town, population 8,495. The major occupation is farming, producing products such as sea cucumbers, abalone, sea urchins, bivalves, kelp, scallops. Tourism is also important, many of the villages sport resort hotels, the islands are regularly served by both a passenger and vehicle Roll On, Roll Off ferry from Penglai. There is a military airport on the largest island, Changdao Island. Both Changdao National Forest Park and Changdao National Nature Reserve are located on the islands, the islands are often referred to as the Temple Islands because of the large number of temples that were built there. Xianying Palace is a temple that was built during the Northern Song Dynasty and it was originally a Taoist temple to the sea goddess Matsu, but became Buddhist later. At the present time the government has restored the temple to its Ming Dynasty appearance. Changdao Island was previously closed to non-Chinese nationals, westerners found on the island were swiftly taken to the passenger ferry terminal and placed on the next ferry back to Penglai by the islands Police service. Islanders promptly reported all outsiders to the police service. Police explained the reasons for this, due to the number of military installations on the Island. The Changdao Islands are now open to nationals, including westerners This was agreed by the local and national governments as of 1 December 2008. Official Changdao County website Changdao website from Yantai IDB development corporation
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Chefoo School
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Its purpose was to provide an education for the children of foreign missionaries and the foreign business and diplomatic communities in China. Chefoo School was operated as a part of the China Inland Mission agency, staff of the school were required to be full members of the C. I. M. The curriculum was based on the British education system, heavily emphasizing classical courses designed to prepare students for entrance to British universities such as Oxford, Christian education was also a focus. The Principal led prayers daily, and there were two services each Sunday, the school year had four terms beginning in February, April, August and October. The school also competed in such as soccer and rowing. School magazines included Lux Tenebris in 1887, and The Magnet in the 1920s, and The Chefusian begun in 1928, the school was connected to a sanatorium for missionaries when it began, but eventually became larger than the hospital itself. Mr W L Elliston began to teach the first three pupils in 1881 and this included two sons of pioneer missionary Charles Henry Judd. Elliston was also the first Head Master, by 1886, the number of pupils grew to over 100, and there were three departments—the Boys, Girls and Preparatory School. In 1886 the Boys and Girls schools were separated, the children of China Inland Mission workers alone numbered over 200 children by 1894. In 1895 a Preparatory School for children aged 5–10 was opened in premises owned by the Mission at Tong-Hsin, in 1896 a new Boys School was built at Chefoo, and enlargements made to the Girls School, which was opened in 1898. By early 1900, the Preparatory school had moved closer to the school once more. From 1909-1915, another Preparatory school operated in Lushan, Jiangxi, in 1936, Chefoo School adopted the Chinese dolphin as its crest. In 1937 Japan invaded China and Japanese Army entered Chefoo in February 1938, British and American citizens were considered as neutrals at first. The school routine was not disrupted very much, then came December 7,1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bruce was soon arrested and the Japanese Army took control of the school property, in November 1942, staff and remaining students were interned at the Temple Hill Japanese Internment Camp. In summer 1943, they were moved to Weihsien Internment Camp and their fellow internee, Eric Liddell died there before the end of the war. The Americans landed on August 17,1945, just outside the gates of the “Weihsien Civilian Assembly Center”, three days before, the Japanese had announced their surrender, but another two weeks would pass before the surrender papers were signed. The paratroopers were sent by the Office of Strategic Services the forerunner of the CIA, unable to land at the camp because of the guards, they made a low drop from a B-24 into a nearby cornfield
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Yantai University
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Yantai University is a public university founded in 1984 with the assistance of Peking University and Tsinghua University in Yantai, Shandong, China. Yantai University was established as a comprehensive university along the coast in Yantai, in July 1984. Zhang Chengxian was appointed the first president, Yantai Universitys motto is to be honest, modest and natural. Its coat of arms is constituted by a dolphin and ocean flows, delegating intellectual, the majority of students registering in Yantai University are Shandong natives. In 2008, the university had 21 faculties and provides 49 programs covering arts, law, science, education, management, medicine, music, engineering, continuing education, international culture. The university library serves the community with 1,680,000 physical bibliographies and 700,000 electronic items, Yantai University has stable communication with academic institutes in the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, Australia, Korea, Germany, and the United States. Each year, about 500 international students accept their admissions from Yantai University, a number of teachers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada are working for the university. It is also home to students who are studying Chinese language. The university is along coast and a 25-minute ride from downtown by bus No.7 or No,10, both of which terminate outside the railway station and quite close to one of the several long-distance bus stations in the city. The Coal College now named Shandong Institute is no more than a 15-minute walk from the north gate
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Jinan
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Jinan, formerly romanized as Tsinan, is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The city has held sub-provincial administrative status since 1994, Jinan is often called the Spring City for its famous 72 artesian springs. Its population was 7,067,900 in 2014 with a population of 4,693,700. The modern-day name Jinan literally means south of the Ji and refers to the old Ji River that had flowed to the north of the city until the middle of the 19th century. The Ji River disappeared in 1852 when the Yellow River changed its course northwards, the current pronunciation of the character Ji with the third tone was established in the late 1970s. Prior to this, it was pronounced with the fourth tone, older texts spell the name as Tsinan or Chi-nan. During the times of the Zhou dynasty, the city of Lixia was the settlement in the area. The name Lixia refers to the location of Jinan at the foot of Mount Li, today, Lixia is the name of one of the citys districts. Marco Polo gives a description of Jinan under the name Chingli or Chinangli. 19th and early 20th century texts frequently give the name of the city as Tsinan Fu where the additional Fu comes from the dated Chinese term for a provincial capital. Jinan is also referred to by the nickname City of Springs, because of the artesian springs in the urban city centre. The area of present-day Jinan has been inhabited for more than 4000 years, the Neolithic Longshan Culture was first discovered at the Chéngzǐyá site to the east of Jinan in 1928. One of the features of the Longshan Culture are the intricate wheel-made pottery pieces it produced. Most renowned is the black pottery with wall thicknesses that can go below 1 millimeter. During the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, the area of Jinan was split between two states, the state of Lu in the west and the state of Qi in the east. In 685 BCE, the state of Qi started to build the Great Wall of Qi across Changqing county, portions of the wall still remain today and are accessible as open air museums. Biǎn Què, according to the legend the earliest Chinese physician, Zou Yan, a native of Zhangqiu City, developed the concepts of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. Joseph Needham, a British sinologist, describes Zou as The real founder of all Chinese scientific thought, during the times of the Han dynasty, Jinan was the capital of the Kingdom of Jibei and evolved into the cultural and economic hub of the region
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Zhangqiu District
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Zhangqiu is a district under the jurisdiction of Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, Peoples Republic of China. The district has an area of 1721.29 square kilometers,20 towns,908 villages, with a GDP of 32 billion RMB in 2008, Zhangqiu is ranked 30 among Chinas 100 Most Competitive Counties in 2007. Originally called Zhangqiu County with Mingshui as its capital, Zhangqiu City was established in August 1992, located in central Shandong province, Zhangqiu is 50 kilometers to the east of Jinan, the capital of Shandong province. It is 120 kilometers north from Mount Tai and the Yellow River is the border of Zhangqiu. Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport is situated at Yaoqiang Village of Zhangqiu, Zhangqiu is the hometown of the famous poet Li Qingzhao in the Song Dynasty, and home to Longshan Culture that existed around 2900~2100 BC. Longshan Culture is known for its ceramics and the earliest features to late characterize the Shang civilization, scapulimancy. Zhangqiu is known for its springs and beautiful scenery outside the city of Jinan. The East Jingshi Road and several Province Highways connect Mingshui and Jinan
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Qingdao
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Qingdao is a city in eastern Shandong Province on the east coast of China. It is the largest city in its province, administered at the sub-provincial level, Qingdao has jurisdiction over six districts and four county-level cities. As of 2014 Qingdao had a population of 9,046,200 with a population of 6,188,100. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea, it borders Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west, qīng in Chinese means cyan or greenish-blue, while dǎo means island. Qingdao is a seaport, naval base, and industrial centre. The worlds longest sea bridge, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, links the urban area of Qingdao with Huangdao district. It is also the site of the Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest brewery in China, in 2007, Qingdao was named as among Chinas top ten cities by the Chinese Cities Brand Value Report, which was released at the 2007 Beijing Summit of China Cities Forum. In 2009, Qingdao was named Chinas most livable city by the Chinese Institute of City Competitiveness, jiāoào, former name during the Qing dynasty. Qindao, additional modern name for the area, refers according to locals to the shape of the coastline, Tsingtao, Postal romanization Tsingtau, German name during the concession period, written in German romanization of Chinese. Jiaozhou, a name which refers to the Jiaozhou Bay. Kiaochow, Kiauchau, Kiautschou, romanizations of Jiaozhou, human settlement in the area dates back 6,000 years. The Dongyi nationality, one of the important origins of the Chinese nation, lived here and created the Dawenkou, Longshan, in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the town of Jimo was established, which was then the second largest one in the Shandong region. The area in which Qingdao is located today was named Jiaoao when it was administered by the Qing Dynasty on 14 June 1891, in 1891, the Qing government decided to make coastal Tsingtao a defense base against naval attack and began to improve Qingdaos existing fortifications. German naval officials observed and reported on this Chinese activity during a survey of Jiaozhou Bay in May 1897. Subsequently, German troops seized and occupied the fortification, China conceded the area to Germany the following year, and the Kiautschou Bay concession, as it became known, existed from 1898 to 1914. With an area of 552 square kilometres, it was located in the province of Shandong on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula in northern China. Jiaozhou was romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English, the so-called Marktstrasse was nothing more than the old main street of the Chinese village of Tsingtao, and the buildings lining it were the former homes of fishermen and farmers. Having sold their property, they resettled their homes and fields in the further east
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Shinan District
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Shinan District is an urban district of Qingdao, Shandong. It has an area of 30.01 square kilometres and had approximately 527,000 inhabitants as of 2007, Shinan is located in coastal hilled terrain, and has a temperate monsoon climate. Common features include moderate temperatures, moist air, abundant rainfall and it is notable for its early 20th-century German architecture, unusual in Chinese cities. In the mid-19th century the European powers forcibly opened China to foreign trade, Germany acquired the Kiautschou Bay concession from China in 1898, and substantially developed a fishing village they spelled Tsingtao. The area built by the Germans falls into the part of Qingdao known today as Shinan District, Shinan is a center for political, business and finance activities, and is home to investment from an increasing number of Fortune 500 companies. To facilitate urban planning, it is divided into a number of areas, including a port and logistics area, tourism area, software/IT area, high-end retail area, Shinan is home to the Qingdao International Sailing Centre, a world-class sailing marina constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing competitions and it has also hosted a leg of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race each year since 2005. After Chinas defeat in the First Opium War, the country was opened to foreign trade by a number of treaties collectively referred to as the Unequal Treaties. Following the Treaty of Nanjing, the British established the first treaty ports, following Chinas concession to the British Empire, other foreign powers including France, the United States, Portugal, Germany, Japan, and Russia won concessions as well. Foreigners, who were centered in foreign sections of the cities, foreign clubs, racecourses, and churches were established in major treaty ports. Some of these areas were directly leased by foreign powers, such as the concessions in China. In the early 1890s, the German Empire had been considering occupying Jiaozhou Bay for building its first naval base in East Asia in order to expand into the interior of Shandong. In 1891 the Qing government decided to make Qingdao defensible against naval attack, German naval officials observed and reported on this Chinese activity during a formal survey of Jiaozhou Bay in May 1897. In November 1897, the German Navy seized Jiaozhou Bay under the pretext of ensuring that reparations were paid for the murder of two German Catholic missionaries in the province, the Kiautschou Bay concession, as it became known, existed from 1898 to 1914. With an area of 552 square kilometres, it was located in the province of Shandong on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula in northern China. Having sold their property, they resettled their homes and fields in the further east. The buildings were built in a European style and this area is what later became Shinan District. The territory reverted to Chinese control in 1922, the Japanese reoccupied Qingdao in January 1938 after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War
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Laoshan District
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Laoshan District is an urban district of Qingdao, Shandong. It has an area of 858 square kilometres and had approximately 379,500 inhabitants as of 2010 and it is home to Mount Lao, which gave the district its name. Laoshan District is located in the south of the Shandong Peninsula, facing the Yellow Sea in the east and it covers 858 km2 with 103.7 km2 of coastline. The mountain ranges of Laoshan cover most of the part of the district. The district belongs to north temperature zone, with a temperate climate. There is neither intense heat in summer nor severe cold in winter, most of the district is highland with the average altitude of 55m and surface water of 3m. There is abundant high quality ground water, in fact, Laoshan mineral water is renowned and sold China-wide. Natural resources are abundant, with granite being the prevalent mineral in the area, Laoshan District is home to several Hi-tech industries, tourism and a large service-based industry. In terms of Hi-Tech, the focus is laid on IT, Software, Marine Biological Pharmacy, emphasis has been put on sustainable development and green technology, taking advantage of the still-intact mountain forests and the seaside. The Qingdao International Convention And Exhibition Center with an area of 250,000 m2 is currently remains the largest venue for exhibition and convention purposes in Shandong province. It was put into use in April,2001 and ever since has marked a rapid development phase of Qingdao exhibition and convention economy. Tourism is also essential to the district, with a variety of recreational, ecological, seaside sight-seeing tourism facilities including the Polar Ocean World. The main tourist attraction within the district is Mount Lao itself, with about 176,000 tourists visiting during the 2012 Golden Week. Other tourist destinations include the Qingdao Museum （青岛市博物馆）, Haier Museum, Qingdao Grand Theatre, Laoshan District is home to over 65 schools and institutions of higher education. Peoples Government of Laoshan District, Qingdao City website
