Qingzhou () Wade–Giles: Tsing-chou, sometimes written as Ching-chow-fu, formerly Yidu County (Yitu) (), 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 county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

, which is located in the west 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 Chi ...

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to ...

, in the central part of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

Province, China. Qingzhou is a dynamic industry city, and also grows a great number of farm products. The local government holds an open policy of introduction of foreign capital, and has established strong business relationships with more than fifty countries and regions.

History

Qingzhou is named after one of the

nine provinces The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to ...

that appear in the '' Yu Gong'' geography chapter of the classic ''

Book of Documents The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetoric ...

'' composed during 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 ...

of Chinese history (403 BC － 221 BC). The history of this centuries old city dates back to ancient times twenty two centuries ago when it was part of the Dongyi area.

Administrative divisions

As 2012, this city is divided to 3 subdistricts and 9 towns. ;Subdistricts *Wangfu Subdistrict () *Yidu Subdistrict () *Yunmenshan Subdistrict () ;Towns

Climate

Tourism

Attractions Qingzhou museum 2007 04 21

* Fan Gongting an ancient pavilion built in Song Dynasty. It was a private garden of Fan Zhongyan who was the most notable poet and prosaist in an age of lively literature prosperous. *A Muslim district, including at least two large and historic

mosques A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, i ...

. The oldest one is the Zhenjiao Mosque (). It dates back to 1302 and is one of the three most well-known mosques of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

. *Ou Yuan, a Ming Dynasty garden. It turned to be a combination of park and zoo, and is used as a performance area for citizens in the dawn and nightfall. *

Qingzhou Museum Qingzhou () Wade–Giles: Tsing-chou, sometimes written as Ching-chow-fu, formerly Yidu County (Yitu) (), is a county-level city, which is located in the west of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, in the central part of Shandong Province, Chi ...

, featuring some of the Buddhist statues unearthed in 1996–7 *

Tuoshan Tuoshan () is a mountain located south-west of Qingzhou city, Shandong province, China. It features a number of historic sites and a native pine forest. Tuoshan is the core scenic zone of Qingzhou National Park. Qiaoyu's Calligraphy Qiaoyu ...

("Camel Mountain") and Yunmenshan ("Cloud Gate Mountain") a pair of mountains which include an ancient collection of Buddhist grottoes under national protection. The mountains are located approximately southwest of the city center, with a single gondola servicing both. (the coordinates of the peak are ). * Yang Tian, a natural park with marvelous surface features. It is covered by virgin forest, through which crystal rivers are flowing, and dotted with quantities of natural rock cavities. What makes this park more amazing is the so-called thousand Buddha's cave, which is considered as the first cave for the Buddhas. This is because of the huge volume of the cavern and the 1048 Buddhas in it that are in different postures and look extraordinarily vivid.

Timeline

*412: The Chinese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

pilgrim Faxian landed on the south of

Shandong peninsula The Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula or Jiaodong (Chiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong Province in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou. Geo ...

at Laoshan, and proceeded to Qingzhou to translate and edit the scriptures he had collected in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. *1986: The name "Qingzhou" is recovered from "Yi Du". *1996: The discovery of over 200 buried

statues at Qingzhou was hailed as a major

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

find. The statues included early examples of painted figures, and are thought to have been buried due to Emperor Huizong's

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

repression of Buddhism (he favoured

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

).Royal Academy of Arts exhibition brochure: "Return of the Buddha. The Qingzhou discoveries"

References

{{Authority control Cities in Shandong Weifang County-level divisions of Shandong