Jinan

General Information
　Situated at 36º40'N and 117º00'E, Jinan is near Mount Tai to the south and neighbors the Yellow River on the north, and the terrain of Jinan slopes down from south to north. There are two major water systems in Jinan: the Yellow River and the Xiaoqing River. Jinan is influenced by the warm temperate zone with a continental monsoon climate. It has four distinct seasons and sufficient sunlight.

　Jinan has been honored as the ‘City of Springs’. With springs being its soul, Jinan is entitled as one of the earliest excellent touring cities in China. There are as many as 733 springs within Jinan city. In the old area of the city of 2.6 km2, there are Baotu Spring, Heihu Spring (black tiger), Zhenzhu Spring(pearl), Wulong Tan Spring (five dragons), as well as nearly 100 springs, which are a feast to the eyes and minds.

　East China, Jinan is the political, economic, cultural, science and technology, educational and financial center, and a nation-authorized city of deputy provincial level and a coastal opening city. The whole city has an area of 8,177 km2, and the urban area 3,257 km2. Jinan governs 6 districts: Lixia, Shizhong, Huaiyin, Tianqiao, Licheng, and Changqing, and 3 counties: Pingyin, Shanghe, and Jiyang. By the end of 2008, Jinan had a population of 6,039,900 of 48 nationalities.

History and Culture
　Jinan is an essential birthplace of the civilization in China. Shun, a chieftain of the pristine tribe was born and lived around Jinan. Chengzi Cliff in eastern Jinan is the place where Longshan Civilization (4600—4000 years ago) of the late Neolithic Age was found with the basalt as its symbol. At this site, about 200,000 square meters of China’s oldest city relics was discovered. Jinan has a history of more than 2600 years. When the Shire and County System was established by the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Jinan belonged to Jibei Shire. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Jinan Shire was founded. Consequently, Jinan got its name. Since the Ming and the Qing dynasties, Jinan has been the capital of Shandong Province. The city of Jinan was set up in July, 1929.
　There are many historic sites in Jinan such as Shungeng Mountain which is the ruin of the Shun Civilization (22nd century B.C.); the Qi Great Wall (built in the 3rd century B.C) which is even older than the Qin Great Wall; China’s oldest ground structure--the stone ancestral temple of Xiaotangshan Guoshi of the Han Dynasty (built in the 1st century B.C); China’s oldest stone pagoda—Liubu Four-Door Pagoda of Sui Dynasty (built in the 7th century); the colorful sculptures at Lingyan Temple of the Song Dynasty( built in the 11th century) which are praised as the “Best Sculptures in China”.

Tourism Industry
　Having been reputed as the ‘City of Springs’, Jinan, with spring water as its soul, is one of the first excellent tourism cities in China. Jinan embraces 733 spring mouths within its administrative district. Within the old city area of 2.6km2, almost a hundred of springs are situated besides the four spring clusters including Baotu Spring, Heihu (Black Tiger) Spring, Zhenzhu (Pearl) Spring, Wulong (Five Dragon) Spring. The beautiful sceneries of the gushing springs of such a great number are really a feast to the eye.

　Due to the unceasing water-gush, the spring clusters in Jinan revitalize this famous cultural and historic city to be vigorous and refreshing. What’s more, Jinan has strengthened up its investment and development to tourism industry in recent years. Consequently, it has softly transferred from a sightseeing city to a leisurely vacation city, and has formed a tourism pattern characterized by beautiful landscape in southern area, great spectacle in eastern area and religion attractions in southwestern area and hot spring resorts in northern area, integrating the five elements including ‘mountains, springs, lakes, rivers and the city’.

Sister city　
In recent years, Jinan has been working on deepening foreign friendship, and has established the relationship of communication and cooperation of various fields with over 100 countries. Jinan has established sister-city relations with 15 foreign cities, including Wakayama and Yamaguchi of Japan, Coventry of the United Kingdom, Sacramento of the United States, Regina of Canada, Port Moresby of Papua New Guinea Suwon of South Korea, Nizhny Novgorod of Finland, Rennes of France, Joondalup of Australia, Augsburg of Germany, Kharkov of Ukraine, Yanaishi of Japan, and Kfar Saba of Israel.