Xintai () is a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a Administrative divisions of China#County level (3rd), county-level administrative divi ...

in the central part of

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 in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, People's Republic of China. It is the easternmost

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...

of the

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' ...

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng to ...

and is located about to the southeast of downtown Tai'an.

History

Xintai has a long history dating back to the origins of the Chinese civilisation. In 1966, scientists concluded that a

homo ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relate ...

teeth fossil found in Xintai's Wuzhutai village belonged to a female teenager and that

homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...

were already living in the area five million years ago. Moreover, many primitive social sites belonging to ancient cultures were found on both sides of the Chaiwen River after archaeological excavations, such as the Dawenkou, Longshan and Yueshi cultures. This proves that the ancient Chinese had already created a prelude to the Oriental human civilisation in Xintai some four or five thousand years ago. In the

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...

and Zhou dynasties, Xintai served as the capital of the Qi (杞) state. In 219 BC,

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...

held a ceremony at Mount Liangfu. Emperor Wu and

Emperor Guangwu Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC – 29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han (Later ...

of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

also held similar ceremonies in Xintai. Besides, there were numerous famous Chinese people from Xintai, such as peace activist

Liu Xiahui Zhan Huo (; 720–621 BCE), courtesy name Qin (; changed at 50 years of age to Ji ), was an ancient Chinese politician. He was canonised as Hui (), and is now commonly known as Liuxia Hui (). He was governor of the District of Liuxia () in the Lu ...

and musician Shi Kuang. In the early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, in order to improve transport between north and south China, the

Yongzheng Emperor , regnal name = , posthumous name = Emperor Jingtian Changyun Jianzhong Biaozhen Wenwu Yingming Kuanren Xinyi Ruisheng Daxiao Zhicheng Xian()Manchu: Temgetulehe hūwangdi () , temple name = Shizong()Manchu: Šidzung () , house = Aisin Gioro ...

ordered the construction of a new connecting road. After Yangliu station was set up, Xintai became an important centre of transport between the north and south. In August 2007, the Shandong coal mine flood killed 181 miners.LA times.
LA times
" ''Hope dim for Chinese miners.'' Retrieved on 2008-09-15.

Climate

Xintai lies in the north

temperate zone In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

with a

monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

. The average annual temperatures is 13.2℃.

Administrative divisions

As 2012, this city is divided to 2 subdistricts, 17 towns and 1 township. ;Subdistricts *Qingyun Subdistrict () *Xinwen Subdistrict () ;Towns ;Townships *Daijiazhuang Township ()

Economy

Xintai is an important area of production of foods, vegetables and petroleum. There are about 1,600 million tons of coal deposits, other mineral deposits include quartz, limestone and clay. The industrial structure of Xintai is centered on energy, building materials, machines and chemical engineering. There are more than 1,000 corporations of industry and mining.

Transport

The Cilai railway runs through the city. The Jinghu and the Boxu expressways converge there.

Demographics

References

External links

Chinadaily.com
Cities in Shandong County-level divisions of Shandong Tai'an {{Shandong-geo-stub