History Taian
Tai'an City is a stretch of ancient and mystical land. Five thousand years ago here originated the brilliant Dawenkou Culture, which reflects the whole course of the transition from matriarchal society to patriarchal society and the disintegration of the primitive society. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Period of Warring States, |
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Qi-Lu Culture in the Taishan Mountain Area is so magnificent that it wins people's admiration all over the world. Since entering the period of Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty, Taishan Mountain has gradually become a famous mountain where the emperors granted titles to Buddhists and did their worship until the Ming and Qing Dynasty, which has lasted for more than a thousand years.
Geography Taian
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Tai'an City is situated at the center of Shandong Province, located at 116°02´to 117°59´ east longitude and 35°38´to 36°28´north latitude, and is about 176.6 kilometers long from east to west and about 93.5 kilometers wide from north to south with a total area of 7,762 square kilometers.
Tai'an City is a part of the Middle Lu mountainous region, of which the whole terrain inclines from northeast to southwest,
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and there are many kinds of landforms within the boundaries, such as mountains, hills, plains, marshlands, lakes, etc. The mountainous regions are mainly grouped in the north and the east of the city, which have an area of 140,700 hectares, occupying 18% of the total area of the city, with the altitudes from 400 to 800 meters. The hills are distributed mainly over the southwest of Xintai City, the east of Ningyang County, the northwestern suburb of Tai'an City, the fringe of Feicheng Basin and the north end of Dongping County. The plains are distributed mainly along the mountains and rivers, mostly are the valley plains, conoplains and diluvia plains. The marshlands and lakes are mainly distributed within the Dongping County. The Dongping Lake is the second large freshwater lake in the province, and is the only survived waters of "Liangshan Waters and Lakes".
Climate Taian
Tai'an City belongs to the continental half humid monsoon climatic area of the north warm temperate zone, and it has a clear distinction between the seasons. It is delightful in all seasons with the sunshine and climate synchronization, and the rainfall and heat in the same season. It is dry and windy in spring, hot and rainy in summer, warm and fresh in autumn, and cold and little snow in winter.
The average total amount of the solar radiation of the city is 121.58 kilocalorie/cm2 in many years, with the annual amount changes within 112 to 131 kilocalorie/cm2.
The average annual temperature of Tai'an City is 12.9?. The average highest temperature is 26.4? in July of the year, while the lowest is in January with 2.6? below zero in average. The average annual precipitation of the city is 697mm. Being affected by the monsoon climate, the annual precipitation changes greatly.
Natural Ecological Environment Taian
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Tai'an City is situated at the south of Taishan Mountain. Taishan Mountain belongs to the monsoon climate of the warm Temperate Zone, with clear changes in altitudinal zonality, the lower part is the warm zone, and the top is the mesothermal zone. The favorable climatic conditions make Taishan Mountain be covered with thick vegetation, luxuriant forests, flourishing flowers and plants; which make up of a high afforestation coverage rate of 79.9%, |
all of these are seldom seen in mountainous scenic spots in northern area. There are numerous ancient and famous trees,among which more than 30 thousand trees are aged over a hundred praised as the "living cultural relics". Taishan Mountain is rich in biological resources in which the rare traditional medicinal herbs include Taishan glossy ganoderma, Polygonum multiflorum, Chinese gromwell, four-leaf ginseng, sealwort etc. In the gills and streams of Taishan Mountain lives a kind of rare fish specific in Taishan Mountain-Red Squama Fish, which is one of the animal species at the verge of extinction under the provincial protection. For many years, Tai'an City has always been stressing the importance of protecting the ecological environment, so that the afforestation coverage arte in the city has reached 33.05%, with an average of 7.34 square meters green land area per person. Tai'an City was honored the State Sanitary City in 1995.
Economy Taian
Tai'an, with its natural treasures of nice products from the earth, also a remarkable place producing outstanding people, is an agriculturally developed area in the history. Its many agricultural products, such as Dawenkou peanut, Xintai celery, Feicheng Buddhist peach ("fotao" in Chinese), Ningyang Chinese date, Dongping short-tail cold-resistant sheep and Taishan Mountain Chinese chestnut, red glossy ganoderma etc, enjoy good reputations both in the country and overseas. Taishan Mountain is rich in mineral resources in which more than fifty of them have been explored, and the mineral resources under the ground account for over half of solid mineral storage of Shandong Province. |
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Since the reform and opening up, the economy of Tai'an City develops so rapidly that it has formed a complete industrial system which takes machinery, chemicals, textiles and other light industrial goods, building materials and coal as the pillar industries. The communications of Tai'an City with other cities and countries have been enlarged constantly, and it has established over six hundred joint ventures by now. The status of the tourism in the national economy has been improved day by day, and all these lead to the advance of all social undertakings. Nowadays, Tai'an City has built a cooperative relationship in the economy and trade with more than one hundred and thirty countries and regions. The establishment of Tai'an Tourist Economic Development Zone has brought new energy for the economic development of Tai'an City.
Culture Taian
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Tai'an City has a long history and a brilliant culture. Taishan Mountain is the key famous scenic spot ofthe state and the natural cultural legacy of the world; the ruins of Dawenkou Culture, Daimiao Temple (Temple of Taishan Mountain) and Tomb of Feng Yuxiang are the important historical relies under the state protection. Since the reform and opening up, the cultural undertakings of Tai'an City have been developed quickly, all sorts of cultural facilities such as library, |
museum and cinema have been improved greatly, and the newspaper, broadcast, television and cultural causes are in the forefront of Shandong Province. The technical education of Tai'an City is advanced, and there are 21 scientific research institutes, 14 universities and colleges, and 45 polytechnic schools in the city.
A Survey of Tourist Industry Taian
Tai'an City possesses the tourist resources with particularly favorable natural conditions which have the Taishan Mountain as the representative, and the tourist industry has developed vigorously since the reform and opening up, and it is becoming the pillar industry of the city's economy. In 1998, approximately 4.05 million domestic tourists visited the city, and the direct income from tourist industry totaled 1.683 billion CNY.
Taishan Mountain is a traditional sightseeing and touring product, and if it wants to attract tourists at home and abroad to come continuously, it should be uninterruptedly developed according to the demands of the tourist market.
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Pursuing new style, heightening the ancient style, laying stress on the characteristics and radiating over the surroundings, Tai'an has done a lot to expand the sightseeing area of Taishan Mountain and enrich the tour items, which is helpful to the development of tourist industry.
Additionally, the basic touring facilities of Tai'an City have been perfected constantly, and tourist service functions of the city have been improved unceasingly. Developed to nowadays, the whole city has established 9 star-rated hotels and over two hundred restaurants of various kinds. There are thirty travel agencies in the city, which have the ability to receive thirty thousand people simultaneously. The chain of tourist industry of "eating, lodging, walking, touring, shopping and amusing" has come into being and is operating.
As a new industry, the tourist industry of Tai'an City has unfolded its exuberant vigor, and Tai'an City is forwarding toward the aim of becoming an extensive tourism, big market and large-scale industry.
Crape Myrtle, City Flower of Tai'an
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The city flower of Tai'an City is common crape myrtle, also called Yangyang tree or crape myrtle, which is a kind of deciduous shrubbery or small arbor. There is a tree of crape myrtle aged over one hundred years in Luohanya (Arhat Precipice) Yard, its trunk twisted and gnarled like a curled-up dragon full of ancient style interest. Every year, there are red flowers on it from summer to autumn. |
When blooming, the flowers are splendid like fire, and when being swayed by the breeze, they quivers tenderly, which is too beautiful to be appreciated all at once. In recent years, the crape myrtle has been vastly planted in the streets, courtyards and scenic spots of Tai'an City, and it was appointed as its city flower.
Chinese Scholar tree, City Tree of Tai'an
The city tree of Tai'an City is Chinese scholar tree, also called Chinese locust tree or family locust tree, which belongs to Leguminosae, the deciduous arbor. The Chinese scholar tree, having powerful adaptability, long life and sparse and casual shape, is a kind of scenic beauty tree with high sightseeing value. The total amount of Chinese scholar trees aged over one hundred years in Taishan Mountain are 42, |
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among which the most well-known are Tang Scholar tree in Daimiao Temple, Wolong scholar tree in Doumu Palace, "Four scholar trees" on the bends, etc.
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