Jinan
Discover Jinan
Jinan (济南 Jǐnán) is the provincial capital of Shandong in North China. Jinan's nicknames include Quancheng, Qizhou, and Luoyi. It is located in the north-west of the province. In the south the city is flanked by the hills of the Tai'an massif, while the Yellow River passes north of the city. Jinan carries the nickname City of Springs (泉城 quánchéng) because of the many artesian wells that bubble up within the city limits. The water from these springs flows north towards the main landmark, Daming Lake (大明湖 dàmíng hú), and onwards to the Yellow River.
Taste of Jinan...
Opportunities to eat in Jinan are plentiful; from luxury restaurants to farmers cooking at the road side, you will find an enormous variety of prices and standards. The majority of traditional restaurants may be difficult for non-Chinese speakers who will at the best need to choose by pointing at pictures in a menu; more convenient options for these visitors include canteens, food halls, and restaurants within shopping centers and hotels. The cuisine of Shandong province (known in Mandarin as LuCai) is one of China's eight great culinary traditions and many restaurants will have dishes to sample, unfortunately a non-Chinese speaker may again face difficulties identifying these. Local dishes will typically contain soup (a particular focus of Jinan-style Shandong cuisine), seafood, maize, peanuts, and breads in place of rice. Jinan is also known for crisp pancake style snacks although these are less commonly sold on the street now. Many visitors may find the tastes of traditional Shandong dishes unusual if their previous experience of Chinese food is mainly from Cantonese-style restaurants abroad; for those craving something more familiar there are a small number of international food chains with outlets in the city.
A Rich Past
Explore the historical roots that shaped Jinan into what it is today.
The Yellow River basin was China's cultural centre during the Neolithic period, and so it comes as no surprise that the area around present day Jinan has been inhabited for over 4,000 years. The oldest finds in the region are from the Longshan culture (roughly 3,000-2,000 BCE), a Late Neolithic culture noted for its advanced black 'egg-shell pottery', sometimes as thin as a millimetre. The name is from Longshan District, an area in Jilin Prefecture where the first relics were found, but the culture seems to have been considerably more widespread than that. Fast forward past the Shang and Zhou dynasty. After the fall of the Zhou dynasty many independent states arose during a time known as the Spring and Autumn period. Eventually only a handful remained, striving for power during the Warring States period. During this era Jinan lay on the border of the state of Qi and the state of Lu. The great wall of Qi, to the East of Jinan, is a remnant of this age. It is the oldest Great Wall in China, and portions are accessible as open air museum. Lu (鲁) on the other hand was the home state of Confucius, and the character is still used as abbreviation for Shandong. It was during the Han Dynasty (202BCE-220CE) that Jinan became an important economic and cultural hub, and its role only became more prominent during the following dynasties. Some well known poets, painters and even a Han dynasty ruler all called Jinan their home....
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsJinan is the hub of traffic for the region and province so you'll likely end up here if heading elsewhere in Shandong, notably Qingdao and Yantai. High speed rail runs on both north-south and east-west lines through Jinan. You can fly to Jinan, but the airport is 40 km northeast of downtown. A taxi will take an hour and cost about ¥150. A shuttle bus travels between the airport and downtown hourly from 06:00 to 17:00. It takes just as long and costs ¥20. A subroute of bus 16 also goes to the airport. You can find flights from most major cities. Shandong Airlines is the major carrier. (Shandong Airlines code-shares with Air China, so your ticket and check-in may well say Air China.) Jinan is on the major line from Shanghai to Beijing so you can take the train. It's about 2½ hours by fast train from Beijing and 3½ hours from Shanghai. Overnight sleeper trains can also be taken to Beijing. It is very easy to get to Jinan with lots of buses running all day and some at night....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Jinan is a very large city and travelling by public transport is very difficult for non-Chinese speakers, with the exception of the Jinan Metro. Buses are ¥1, or ¥2 for air-conditioned. Buses that begin with K or B are supposedly air-conditioned and even if the a/c is off or not working. ¥1 (no a/c) buses are quite rare and only serve specific lines. You may be charged a discounted price if you use the transit cards, you can get these cards at a bus service center or on Apple Pay. Most buses with two digits serve the central city. Three digit ones are either coming from or going to the suburbs (may be very far). Bus stops are easily identifiable and bus numbers are written in the Western numbers both on the buses and at the bus stops. The lists of stops for a given route are posted at every bus stop, but in Chinese only, although the beginning and end stations are written in pinyin.
Where to Stay
There are plenty of places to choose from in the ¥200 range. There is a complex of fancy hotels in the swank SE of the city at the end of Lishan Lu, which are all surprisingly affordable for what they are, considering they have beautiful grounds, five-star services and facilities, etc., for maybe US$70–80. There are also hotels at the transport nexus at the train station, but that's a little removed from the sites. Jinan is a very safe city, the people of Shandong are famously known as friendly throughout China. The city centre and other commercial areas are safe to walk around until late at night; there will be large numbers of people going about their business until around 22:00 from which time the streets quite quickly empty. While special precautions need not be taken, as with any other city travellers should be sensible, avoid dark streets and walking around alone after the streets become quiet.
Money & Budget
Jinan is a sprawling city with a huge number of modern shopping centers and older commercial streets. Visitors on a short trip should find almost everything they need within the north-south stretch from Daming Lake through Quancheng Square to Qianfo Mountain. The central shopping district is centered around Quancheng Square with the majority of large stores along Quancheng Road a short walk north of the square. Quancheng Road also has access to the southern entrance to Furong Street, a busy food street with many small restaurants and snack traders. There is also a small faux-ancient shopping quarter filled with small cafes and trinket stores at the corner of Heilongquan West and Heilongquan North streets.
Safety Information
Safety Overview
Jinan is a very safe city, the people of Shandong are famously known as friendly throughout China. The city centre and other commercial areas are safe to walk around until late at night; there will be large numbers of people going about their business until around 22:00 from which time the streets quite quickly empty. While special precautions need not be taken, as with any other city travellers should be sensible, avoid dark streets and walking around alone after the streets become quiet. Theft and pickpocketing are the most likely crimes a traveller might encounter so one must always keep their bags and purses in a position where they can be monitored while on public transport or in other confined spaces such as markets, and always keep sight of luggage or other belongings, particularly at transport hubs such as Jinan Train Station.
Glimpses of Jinan
珍珠泉
grey cloudy sunset sky over the city
white and black boat on water near green trees during daytime
Journals
Books
a tree with orange leaves
济南 Jinan
grey train
Tall Buildings
Thermal paper rolls packaging process
珍珠泉
grey cloudy sunset sky over the city
white and black boat on water near green trees during daytime