Tai'an () is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...

in Western

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Centered on

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the '' Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

, the city borders the provincial capital of

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

to the north,

Zibo Zibo (, ) is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, China. It borders the provincial capital Jinan to the west, Tai'an to the southwest, Linyi to the south, Weifang to the east, Dongying to the northeast, and Binzhou to the nor ...

to the east,

Linyi Linyi () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, China. As of 2011, Linyi is the largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, both by area and population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to ...

to the southeast,

Liaocheng Liaocheng (), is a prefecture-level city in western Shandong province, China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Dezhou to the northeast, Tai'an to the south, and the provinces of Hebei and Henan to the west. The Grand ...

to the extreme west and

Jining Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jining ...

to the south. To the west, Tai'an is separated from the province of

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

by the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

. Its population was 5,494,207 as of the 2010 census, of whom 1,735,425 lived in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of two urban districts ('' Taishan District and

Daiyue District Daiyue () is a district of the city of Tai'an in Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role i ...

'').

Administration

The

of Tai'an administers six county-level divisions, including two

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, two

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and two

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. * Taishan District () *

() *

Xintai Xintai () is a county-level city in the central part of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Tai'an and is located about to the southeast of downtown Tai'an. H ...

City () *

Feicheng Feicheng ( zh, s=肥城, p=Féichéng) is a county-level city under the administration of Tai'an City in the west of Shandong Province, China. , the population was 992,000. Part of the Great Wall of Qi starts here and is listed on the People's R ...

City () *

Ningyang County Ningyang () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Tai'an, Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East ...

() *

Dongping County , other_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = , total_type = , motto = , image_skyline = BaifoShan Park.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_ ...

()

History

Etymology

Tai'an is named after Mount Tai. In Chinese, Tai () means "significant". Thus, the name Tai'an is derived from the ancient saying: "If Mount Tai is safe, then the four seas (the world) are safe (). "

Early history

Tai'an was home to the

Dawenkou culture The Dawenkou culture was a Chinese Neolithic culture primarily located in the eastern province of Shandong, but also appearing in Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu. The culture existed from 4300 to 2600 BC, and co-existed with the Yangshao culture. Turquoi ...

during the

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

era. During the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

and the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

, the region belonged to the states of Qi and Lu. The site of major historical and cultural significance in the area is

. It attracted multiple emperors throughout the dynasties to

visit Visit refer as go to see and spend time with socially. Visit may refer to: *State visit, a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country *Conjugal visit, in which a prisoner is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visit ...

, offer sacrifice to the heaven gods and pray for harvest. Confucius, Sima Qian,

Cao Zhi Cao Zhi (; ; 192 – 27 December 232), courtesy name Zijian (), posthumously known as Prince Si of Chen (陈思王), was a prince of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and an accomplished poet in his time. His style o ...

, Li Bai,

Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Tang dynasty poet and politician. Along with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets.Ebrey, 103. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as ...

and other litterateurs visited here and many great works were produced.

Modern history

In 1909, German colonials built Tai'an-Fu Railway Station along with the construction of

Tianjin–Pukou railway The Tianjin–Pukou or Jinpu railway ( Postal spelling: Tientsin-Pukow Railway; ) runs from Tianjin to Pukou district outside Nanjing in Jiangsu province. History The first proposals to build railways in China began in the 1860s with oppositi ...

(Tientsin–Pukow railway). On 10 November of the following year, the first train service passed through the station. On 1 May 1928,

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

, the leader of

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...

and nationalist revolutionary army, commanded the attack of Tai'an and occupied it the next day. In October 1937, exiled students from Peking, Tianjin and other major cities arrived in Tai'an seeking asylum after the north of Yellow river was occupied by the Japanese forces. On 24 December 1937, Japanese troops crossed the Yellow River, occupied Jinan on the next day, and bombed Tai'an. On the night of 31 December, the Japanese occupied Tai'an. Local resistants were assembled autonomously to fight against the occupation.

Geography and climate

Tai'an is centered on the south side of

Dongping Lake The Dongping Lake () is a freshwater lake in Shandong Province of China. It is situated in Dongping County in the west of Shandong Province, south of the lower reaches of Yellow River. The lake has a total area of about 148 square kilometers. The ...

is the biggest lake. Tai'an lies in the northern temperate zone and has a continental, semi-humid

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

climate. The average annual temperatures are (January), (annual average), and (July). The average annual precipitation is .

Education

Shandong University of Science and Technology The Shandong University of Science and Technology (SDUST; ) is a public university in Shandong province, China. It was established in 1951. The university offers courses in science and technology. Campus The university's main campus has been i ...

* Shandong First Medical University * Shandong Agricultural University * Taishan University * Tai'an Public Health School * Tai'an Polytechnic College * Shandong Foreign Trade Vocational College Taian Campus Secondary schools * Tai’an the first high school (泰安一中)

Transportation

Tai'an is served by Tai'an railway station on the

Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway The Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway (or Jinghu high-speed railway, from its name in Mandarin) is a high-speed railway that connects two major economic zones in the People's Republic of China: the Bohai Economic Rim and the Yangtze River ...

and Taishan railway station on the

Beijing–Shanghai railway The Beijing–Shanghai railway or Jinghu railway () is a railway line between Beijing and Shanghai. The line has a total length of and connects the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, ...

. Tai'an is served by the

G2 Beijing–Shanghai Expressway The Beijing–Shanghai Expressway designated as G2 and commonly abbreviated as Jinghu Expressway is a major expressway of China, linking the capital Beijing in the north to Shanghai on the central coast. It extends 1262 kilometres in length, and ...

and on the Tai-Lai Expressway (west-east from Tai'an to

Laiwu Laiwu () was a prefecture-level city in central Shandong Province, China. Bordered the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east and Tai'an to the southwest, it was the smallest prefecture-level city in the province. It had a ...

). There is a four-lane highway from Tai'an to the

Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport is the airport serving Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, China. The airport is located approximately northeast of the city center and immediately to the north of the Yaoqiang Subdistrict () after ...

. Within Tai'an there are large tree lined avenues throughout the city. The nearest major airport is

, about to the north.

References

External links

*
Government website of Tai'an
(in Simplified Chinese) {{authority control Cities in Shandong Prefecture-level divisions of Shandong