Dezhou () is a

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

in northwestern

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

province,

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It borders the provincial capital of

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

to the southeast,

Liaocheng Liaocheng ( zh, s=, p=Liáochéng), 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 t ...

to the southwest,

Binzhou Binzhou (, ), formerly Putai, is a prefecture-level city in northern Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. The city proper sits on the northern bank of the Yellow River, while its administrative area straddles both sides of its ...

to the northeast, and the province of

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

to the north.

History

Sulu royal family

In 1417, the pre-

sultanate Sultan (; ', ) is a Royal and noble ranks, position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". La ...

East King of

Sulu Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilaya' sin Lupa' Sūg''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago. It was part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Autonomous R ...

Paduka Pahala Paduka Pahala (; died 1417) was East King of Sulu, best known as the first king from what is now the Philippines to be buried in China. He ruled one of the three Kingdoms of Sulu. Voyage to China In 1417, Paduka Pahala sailed with his family an ...

, sailed to China on a tribute mission to the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

. 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 The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Islam in China, Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the Northwest China, northwestern provinces and in the Zhongy ...

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 Sharif ul-Hāshim (began reign 17 November 1405) was the regal name of Sharif Abubakar Abirin Al-Hashmi. He was an Arab

arrived in Sulu and married a princess of the previous non-Hashemite royal family, founding the

Sulu Sultanate The Sultanate of Sulu (; ; ) is a Sunni Muslim subnational monarchy in the Republic of the Philippines that includes the Sulu Archipelago, coastal areas of Zamboanga City and certain portions of Palawan in today's Philippines. Historicall ...

. 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 The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

's first empress,

Empress Xiaoxianchun Empress Xiaoxianchun (28 March 1712 – 8 April 1748) of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Fuca clan was an imperial consort of the Qing dynasty. She was the first wife of the Qianlong Emperor. Life Family background Empress Xiaoxianchun's p ...

, died at the age of 37. The circumstances of her death are not well documented by historical sources.

Administration

The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Dezhou comprises thirteen county-level sub divisions: ;Districts *

Decheng District Decheng () is a district and the seat of the city of Dezhou, in the northwest of Shandong province, China, bordering Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by po ...

(). The government of the prefecture-level city is located in this sub division. *

Lingcheng District Lingcheng District, formerly Ling County or Lingxian, is a district of the city of Dezhou, Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning o ...

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

Laoling Laoling (), often mispronounced as Leling, is a county-level city in the northwest of Shandong province, China, bordering Hebei province to the north. Laoling has more than 640,000 inhabitants (1999) and is under the jurisdiction of Dezhou City. A ...

() * Yucheng () ;Counties Counties (县 ''xian'') administered by Dezhou are: * Pingyuan () *

Xiajin Xiajin County () is a county in the northwest of Shandong Province, China, bordering Hebei to the west. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Dezhou Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern S ...

() * Wucheng () *

Qihe Qihe County () is a county in the northwest of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is the southernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Dezhou Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong ...

() *

Linyi Linyi ( zh, s=临沂 , t=臨沂 , p=Línyí) 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 eas ...

() * 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 The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

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 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, ...

, and the

. In addition, a small single-track railway connects Dezhou with

Dongying Dongying ( zh, s=东营 , t=東營 , p=Dōngyíng), is a prefecture-level city on the northern (Bohai Sea) coast of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, 2,193,518 people resided within its administrative area of ...

. The main expressway passing Dezhou is the

G3 Beijing–Taipei Expressway The Beijing–Taipei Expressway (), designated as G3 and commonly known as the Jingtai Expressway (), is a partially completed expressways of China, Chinese expressway that, if fully constructed, would connect the China, People's Republic of Chi ...

, 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 The Beijing–Shanghai Expressway designated as G2 and commonly abbreviated as the 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 ...

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

(Philippines), who died in Dezhou on his return journey from a visit to the

in 1417. The tomb is well preserved and has been declared a national heritage site. Descendants of the sultan's

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

followers still live in Dezhou today, and are classified as the

Hui The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces and in the Zhongyuan region. According to the 2 ...

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 The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

formed, one of the three emperors

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

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 Dongfang Shuo (, c. 160 BCE – c. 93 BCE) was a Han dynasty scholar-official, '' fangshi'' ("master of esoterica"), author, and court jester to Emperor Wu (r. 141 – 87 BCE). In Chinese mythology, Dongfang is considered a Daoist ''xian'' ...

, the most well-known adviser during the reign of

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...

. In the Tang Dynasty, a major figure of Chinese calligraphy,

Yan Zhenqing Yan Zhenqing (; 709 – 23 August 784) was a Chinese calligrapher, military general, and politician. He was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy is equal to ...

, 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 Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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 Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, UK (2006) and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(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 The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons from a material caused by electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light. Electrons emitted in this manner are called photoelectrons. The phenomenon is studied in condensed matter physic ...

Greenpeace China Greenpeace East Asia is an office serving the East Asia region of the global environmental organization Greenpeace. History Greenpeace East Asia's first China office was opened in Hong Kong in 1997. Early actions included a blockade of a shipme ...

cited Dezhou in May 2009 as an example of how

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

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 Dezhou University (abbreviated as DZU; ) is a public university in Shandong, China. It was founded in 1971. In 2021, the number of students was around 25,000. It is a comprehensive university offering many degrees in liberal arts, science, engi ...

: 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 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 ...

: 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

(154 to 93 BC, The Western Han Dynasty), Writer and poet *

(709 to 784, The Tang Dynasty), Calligrapher, poet *

Ma Dehua Ma Dehua (; born 11 August 1945) is a Chinese actor best known for his role as Zhu Bajie in the 1986 television series ''Journey to the West''. Life Ma was born in a family of merchants in Beijing on 11 August 1945, with his ancestral home in W ...

(1945), actor, best known for his role as Zhu Bajie in the television series

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

* He Rong (1962),

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

* Han Hong (1971), Singer, songwriter, music producer, director *

Zhang Yuqi Zhang Yuqi (; born 8 August 1987), also known as Kitty Zhang, is a Chinese actress best known for her roles in Stephen Chow's films ''CJ7'' (2008) and '' The Mermaid'' (2016). Early life and career Zhang was born in Dezhou, Shandong province. ...

(1986), Chinese actress *

Ma Tianyu Ma Tianyu ( zh, s=马天宇, p=Mǎ Tiānyǔ; born 12 July 1986), also known as Ray Ma, is a Chinese singer and actor. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. Career Early life Ma was born to an ethnic Hui people, Hui family in Wucheng ...

(1986), Chinese actor

Miscellaneous

*Dezhou is well known for its braised chicken and

watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...

. *The name of Dezhou is the same as the abbreviation of the Chinese name for the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. *Pingyuan, Dezhou is the foundation place of Yihetuan (

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

) 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