Shandong
Discover Shandong
Introduction
Shandong is the peninsula that reaches out towards Korea between the Yellow River delta and the sea, and it occupies a particular place in Chinese self-understanding: Confucius was born here in 551 BC, taught here, and is buried at Qufu, where his family’s mansion, temple and cemetery form a UNESCO World Heritage site that the same lineage maintained for seventy generations.
The province’s other great site is Mount Tai, the most sacred of the five Taoist mountains, climbed by emperors to perform sacrifices for two thousand years. Seven thousand stone steps run to the summit past inscriptions carved into the rock by successive dynasties, and people still walk up overnight to be at the top for sunrise.
On the coast, Qingdao is a different proposition entirely: a German concession from 1898 to 1914, which left red-roofed European architecture, a cathedral, and the brewery that makes Tsingtao beer, still using the original springwater. The beaches and seafood make it a domestic summer resort. Inland, the Yellow River finishes its course through the province, and the flat farmland produces a disproportionate share of China’s wheat, peanuts and apples. Spring and autumn are the seasons; winter on the coast is cold and windy.