Xintai () is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

in the central part of

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

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

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since 1412, due to mainland China's large population and geographical area. In the People's Republic of China, the constitution provides for three levels of government. Ho ...

of the

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 ...

of Tai'an 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 a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...

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

homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...

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

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

held a ceremony at Mount Liangfu. Emperor Wu and Emperor Guangwu of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

also held similar ceremonies in Xintai. Besides, there were numerous famous Chinese people from Xintai, such as peace activist Liu Xiahui and musician Shi Kuang. In the early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, 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, personal name Yinzhen, was the fourth List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing em ...

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 (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

with a monsoon climate. The average annual temperatures is 13.2°C.

Administrative divisions

, 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
{{authority control Cities in Shandong County-level divisions of Shandong Tai'an National Civilized City