Dezhou

Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Liaocheng to the southwest, Binzhou to the northeast, and the province of Hebei to the north.

History

Sulu royal family

In 1417, the pre- sultanate East King of Sulu, Paduka Pahala, sailed to China on a tribute mission to the Yongle Emperor. While on his way home from the mission, he died in Dezhou, and his two sons and wife were left in the care of Hui people in the city. The two families descended from the two sons were given the surnames An and Wen by the Ming dynasty. They lived through the Ming and Qing dynasties, and still live in Dezhou today.

Soon after, Sharif ul-Hāshim of Sulu arrived in Sulu and married a princess of the previous non-Hashemite royal family, founding the Sulu Sultanate. Since then, various Tausūg delegations from Sulu have visited Dezhou to meet the descendants of the previous royal family.

Death of Empress Xiaoxianchun

While on a boat in Dezhou, on 5 April 1748, the Qianlong Emperor's first empress, Empress Xiaoxianchun, died at the age of 37. The circumstances of her death are not well documented by historical sources.

Administration

The municipality of Dezhou comprises thirteen county-level sub divisions:

;Districts
* Decheng District (). The government of the prefecture-level city is located in this sub division.
* Lingcheng District ()

;Cities
Cities ( ''xianji shi'') administered by Dezhou are:
* Laoling ()
* Yucheng ()

;Counties
Counties (县 ''xian'') administered by Dezhou are:
* Pingyuan ()
* Xiajin ()
* Wucheng ()
* Qihe ()
*Linyi ()
* Ningjin ()
* Qingyun ()

;Development zones

* Tianquxin-Qu (天衢新区), which is the former:
** Dezhou Economic Development District ()
** Dezhou Yunhe Economic Development District ()

Climate

Transport

Historical

The Yellow River and the Grand Canal both run through Dezhou, making it an important hub for cargo transit since ancient times. In antiquity, it was described as "Junction of Nine Arteries" () and "Portal of the Capital" ().

Modern era

Dezhou is on the Shijiazhuang-Dezhou railway, the Shijiazhuang–Ji'nan railway, the Beijing–Shanghai railway, and the Beijing–Shanghai railway. In addition, a small single-track railway connects Dezhou with Dongying.

The main expressway passing Dezhou is the G3 Beijing–Taipei Expressway, running north–south from it. Other highways include the Dezhou–Shanghai Expressway, National Highway 104, and National Highway 105, offering connections in other directions.

G2 Beijing–Shanghai Expressway passes through the Laoling urban area and Linyi, making Laoling a sub-center of Dezhou.

Tourism

Dezhou's biggest historical attraction is the tomb of Sultan Paduka Pahala of Sulu (Philippines), who died in Dezhou on his return journey from a visit to the Yongle Emperor in 1417. The tomb is well preserved and has been declared a national heritage site. Descendants of the sultan's Muslim followers still live in Dezhou today, and are classified as the Hui minority.

One of Dezhou's county Lingxian used to be a big county in China in history, when it was called Pingyuan County. Now part of the ancient city wall of Tang Dynasty still exists in the south of the region. Before the Three Kingdoms formed, one of the three emperors Liu Bei used to be the chief of the county, together with his fellows Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In addition, it is the hometown of Dongfang Shuo, the most well-known adviser during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. In the Tang Dynasty, a major figure of Chinese calligraphy, Yan Zhenqing, once took office as the administrator of the county. Today, a memorial hall for the two historic figures is built in the People's Park of Lingxian, where a lot of materials of Dongfang Shuo and stone inscriptions of Yan Zhenqing are preserved.

For tourist attractions, there is also a famous temple in Qingyun County. It is called Haidao Jinshan Temple, which is one of the biggest centers of Buddhism in Northern China. The most attractive scene is the underground aisle where the portrait of the hell is presented using high technology.

Industry

A new industrial zone hailed as the "Solar Valley" is being built for experimenting with clean-energy urban projects and massive use of household utilities such as solar-powered water-heaters. The Washington Post describes Dezhou's Solar Valley as the "clean-tech version of Silicon Valley".

Nowadays one of the biggest and most famous industries in Dezhou is solar energy industry, with two main corporations included—Himin Group () and its partner Ecco Solar Group (). Dezhou increased its international reputation when it was selected to follow previous hosts, Daegu, South Korea (2004), Oxford, UK (2006) and Adelaide, Australia (2008) as host of the 2010 International Solar City Congress. Himin Group has developed into the world's largest solar water heater manufacturer and is also discovering new areas such as photoelectricity.

Greenpeace China cited Dezhou in May 2009 as an example of how renewable energy can become a more common reality throughout the world.

Dezhou houses the world's largest solar-powered office building, covering around 75,000 square meters. Dezhou also has semiconductor and sports equipment manufacturing industries. China's largest seasoning production base is located in Laoling, Dezhou.

Education

* Dezhou University: a comprehensive university which was approved by the National Education Committee in March 2000. It is the aggregation of Dezhou Teachers’ College, Dezhou Education College and Evening College Municipality, which has a more than 30-year history. It currently offers postgraduate education.
* Shandong Huayu Institute of Technology: a private science and engineering university offers 4-year undergraduate majors.
* Dezhou Vocational and Technical College: a public vocational college in Dezhou, offers 3-year vocational majors.
* Technological Vocational College of Dezhou: a private vocational college in Dezhou.
* Dezhou Engineering Vocational College: a private polytechnic vocational college in Dezhou.

Notable people

* Dongfang Shuo (154 to 93 BC, The Western Han Dynasty), Writer and poet
* Yan Zhenqing (709 to 784, The Tang Dynasty), Calligrapher, poet
* Ma Dehua (1945), actor, best known for his role as Zhu Bajie in the television series Journey to the West
* He Rong (1962), Minister of Justice
* Han Hong (1971), Singer, songwriter, music producer, director
* Zhang Yuqi (1986), Chinese actress
* Ma Tianyu (1986), Chinese actor

Miscellaneous

*Dezhou is well known for its braised chicken and watermelon.
*The name of Dezhou is the same as the abbreviation of the Chinese name for the U.S. state of Texas.
*Pingyuan, Dezhou is the foundation place of Yihetuan ( Boxer Rebellion) against the Eight Power Allied Force during the 1900s.

Notes

References

Works cited

*

External links

德州鲁北热线陵县旅游Dezhou University

Government website of Dezhou
(in Simplified Chinese)

{{Authority control

Cities in Shandong
Prefecture-level divisions of Shandong