Situated in the southwest part of Shandong Province, Jining City occupies an area of 11,000 square kilometers (6,835 miles), with a population of 8,227,500 (the end of 2008). The eastern part is covered with mountain while its middle and western area is mainly plain and lakes. The transportation of this city is very convenient, with the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Beijing-Kowloon Railway and the Grand Canal passing by. Still, it is the junction where the No. 105 and No. 327 National Highway. In the end of 2008, the Jining Qufu Airport was officially open to the air traffic.
The history of Jining can be traced back to about six thousand years ago when many primitive villages appeared. During the Xia Dynasty (21st - 17th century BC), this area was called the Ren Kingdom. Till the unification during the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 BC), it was renamed as Ren County. Its current name Jining originated in the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368).
Jining is renowned as the birthplace of Chinese predominant philosophers Confucius and Mencius, who are the founder fathers of the Confucianism. That is why Jining has so many places of historical interest. Among them, the most famous one should be the Confucius Temple (Kong Miao) in Qufu County. Also, the Kong Family Mansion was listed into the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. All these brilliant traditional culture of China have attracted numerous descendants of the Yellow to worship as well as countless foreign visitors in favor of Confucianism.
Jinning City governs ten counties, namely Qufu, Gunzhou, Zoucheng, Weishan, Yutai, Jinxiang, Jiaxiang, Wenshang, Sishui and Liangshan. Each of these places has an interesting history of getting its names.
Qufu is a well-known historical city of ancient China. 'Qu' means winding or zigzag while 'fu' means earth hill. A historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220) explained that there was an earth hill wandering for miles in this area, thus it was named Qufu.
Gunzhou used to be a very important military area. 'Gun', in classical Chinese, means honesty and good faith. This piece of land lies between the Yellow Rive and the Jishui River originating from Henan Province. It is said that people residing in this region was honest and faithful. Thus the place was called Gun.
Zoucheng County got its name from the Zhou Dynasty (11th century - 771 BC). When the first emperor of Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty (17th - 11th century BC), this region was nominated as a kingdom called Zou.
Weishan County was named after the lake of this area, the Weishan Lake; the Weishan Lake got its name from the Weishan Mountain; while the Weishan Mountain was named after the elder brother of the last emperor Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. Zhou gave this piece of land to his brother.
Yutai County got its name from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). In Chinese, 'Yu' means fish. This place used to be a good site for watching fish. Jinxiang and Jiaxiang counties were both named according to the ancient legend. While Wenshang, Sichui, Liangshan counties were respectively named after the Wen River, Si River and Mount Liang.
What to see: Weishanhu Lake
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