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 county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

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

, 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 ...

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 ...

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 rela ...

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 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. Tu ...

, 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 ...

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 Empero ...

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 Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

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 The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...

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 with a monsoon climate. 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