Zibo, Shandong Province, China

🇨🇳 Zibo (淄博) is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, China. The metro area comprises five urban districts—Zhangdian, Zichuan, Boshan, Zhoucun and Linzi–and parts of neighbouring counties Huantai, Gaoqing, and Yiyuan.

China. It borders the provincial capital Jinan to the west, Tai'an to the south-west, Linyi to the south, Weifang to the east, Dongying to the north-east, and Binzhou to the north.

Zibo spans 5,938 square km (2,293 sq mi). The metro area comprising five urban districts—Zhangdian, Zichuan, Boshan, Zhoucun and Linzi–and parts of neighboring counties Huantai, Gaoqing, and Yiyuan.

The Zibo area was the centre of the ancient State of Qi, whose capital Linzi was the most populous city in China at its peak. Pu Songling, a well-known writer of the Qing dynasty, is one of the most famous people from Zibo. As the birthplace of Qi culture, Zibo is a notable tourist city.

Manufacturing holds an important place of the city's economy, particularly ceramics manufacturing. Other key industries include the petrochemical industry, pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, construction materials, machinery and textiles. New industries and high-technology industries, such new materials, fine chemicals, electronics, IT, and biopharmaceutics are also developing rapidly.

According to the 2007-08 Global City Competitiveness Report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zibo was among the top 20 cities in the world in terms of fast economic growth between 2001 and 2005. According to the Oriental Outlook Magazine, Zibo ranks No. 1 on the list of cities that have reasonable real estate prices in China, also ranking No. 2 on the list of cities with good public security in China in 2008. In 2009, the city received the award of "Best 10 Harmonious Cities that enjoy Sustainable Development in China".

History The remains of three major Neolithic cultures in ancient China, Beixin culture, Dawenkou culture, and Longshan culture have been found in Zibo. Ancient Linzi, located in present-day Zibo, was the capital of the ancient State of Qi, a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, over 2,000 years ago. In 7th century BC, Duke Huan of Qi, ruler of Qi, appointed Guan Zhong, thinker and economist, as his prime minister, and adopted Guan's thoughts and policies to administer his country, develop the economy and develop relations with other states. The measures greatly strengthened the country, making its capital one of the most prosperous in ancient China. Zibo is rich in cultural and historical sites, and is referred to as the "Underground Museum". In Linzi, the ruins of the ancient Qi city, as well as other famous cultural relics and historic sites, have been discovered and unearthed. The ancient city of Qi was one of the first places in China that was assigned to be a "cultural relics site" and protected.

Zibo made significant contributions to the formation and prosperity of the Silk Road. Zibo was one of the biggest suppliers of silk products. Zhoucun, one of the townships in Zibo, was considered one of the four 'dry ports' alongside Foshan, Jingdezhen, and Zhuxian. The major trade streets such as 'Dajie', 'Sishijie', 'Yinzijie' are well preserved to this date.

In 2004, FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Zibo to celebrate FIFA's 100th anniversary. FIFA has since then recognised the city as the birthplace of football.

Zibo City was established in 1954. The name came from a combination of the prefecture's two major urban areas, Zichuan and Boshan.

Administrative divisions The prefecture-level city of Zibo administers eight county-level divisions, including five districts and three counties.

Geography Zibo is located near the centre of Shandong Province, neighboring Mt. Tai in the south and backing the Yellow River in the north. Toward the east are the coastal cities of Qingdao, Yantai, and Weihai. The capital of Shandong, Jinan is to its west. Zibo is located in the transition zone between the mountainous area in central Shandong and the North China Plain. Its southern area is covered with mid-sized mountains, while the centre is hilly. The city's northern territory descends into plains. The ratio among mountains, hills and plains are 42%, 29.9% and 28.1%, respectively. With the Yihe River originating itself in the southern mountain area, and Yellow River flowing across the northern area, the city has comparatively abundant water resources. The workable reserve of ground water is 1.24 tons/day.

Tourism

Zibo enjoys abundant historical and cultural sites of interest. The Linzi Museum of Ancient Chariots, the Museum of the History of the State of Qi, the Zibo City Museum, the Zibo Museum of Ceramics, the Zhoucun Ancient Commercial Town, and the Thousand Buddha Temple in Zhoucun are the most recommendable places for tourists who want to learn about Zibo's long history and about the Qi Culture. Yuanshan National Forest Park, situated south-west of Baoshan District in Zibo, is a spot worth visiting. It consists of the Great Wall of the Qi State, the grass skiing field, Dinosaur Valley and a folk garden. The Great Wall of Qi was built by the Qi State during the Spring-and-Autumn and Warring States Periods over 2,500 years ago.

In 2023, Zibo became a popular tourist destination during the May Day holiday for its barbecue, which had gained popularity on the internet.

Economy

The Silk Road, prosperous from the Han to the Tang dynasty, is famous for economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. The Shandong area, particularly Zibo, was a major centre of silk supply. At present, Zibo remains an important a producer of silk and light textile products in China. The city's products enjoy a great reputation at home and abroad.

More than 50 types of mineral reserves have been found in the city. Zibo is a main source of coal, iron, bauxite, coal clay, chemical limestone, pottery clay, etc. in Shandong because of their large reserves, high quality, and wide distribution. Northern Zibo is also rich in petroleum and natural gas. The city initially developed as a mining city, and is currently undergoing technological upgradation and industrial transformation.

Since 2002, the city has been steadily taking measures to improve the environment. Small, polluting coal mines and chemical factories were closed, while all major plants were required to install sewage disposal to get control the emission of air and soil pollutants. Currently, Zibo has three municipal sewage treatment plants that comply with China's Grade-A1 Integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB 8978–1996).

In 2008, the total industrial output of Zibo reached 532 billion RMB. In the same year, its GDP was 231.7 billion yuan RMB, ranking just below Qingdao, Yantai, Jinan and Weifang within the province. The percentages of GDP in the agriculture, industry and service sectors were 3.5%, 64.8%, 31.7%, respectively.

In 2017, Zibo's GDP reached 478.13 billion yuan RMB, ranking just below Qingdao, Yantai, Jinan and Weifang within the province. The percentages of GDP in the agriculture, industry and service sectors were 3.1%, 52.1%, 44.8%, respectively.

In 2023, Zibo's successful policy of encouraging street food vendors became a role model for such cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

Transport An important traffic hub of Shandong province, Zibo enjoys convenient transportation. The Jiaoji Railway, Zhangbo Railway, Zidong Railway and Xintai Railway intersect in Zibo. Jiqing Expressway and Binlai Expressway pass through the city, connecting every county and district. The centre of Zibo is only 70 km (43 mi) away from the Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport, 210 km (130 mi) away from the Qingdao Liuting International Airport and 260 km (160 mi) away from the Qingdao Seaport.

Transport: Rail 37 railway stations in large and small sizes are in service nowadays. Zibo Railway Station, lying on the Jiaozhou–Jinan and Zibo–Dongying Railways, is among the busiest railway stations in Shandong province. As of 1 July 2009, Zibo Railway Station has 103 trains stopping daily. If you catch a multiple unit train at Zibo Railway Station, it will only take you 1 hour to Jinan, 2 hours to Qingdao and 4 hours to Beijing.

Freeways and highways • Jiqing Expressway runs west from Jinan through Zibo to Qingdao. • Binlai Expressway begins from Binzhou. It intersects Jiqing Expressway north-west of downtown Zhangdian and runs south to Laiwu. • National Highway 309 starts at Rongcheng within Shandong and ends in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, routing through six provinces. It has a total length of 2,208 kilometers. • National Highway 205 starts at Shanhaiguan, Hebei province and has a terminal at Shenzhen, which has a length of 3160 kilometers. It passes through eight provinces.

Mass transit Mass transit in the region is provided by bus services. More than 2,500 large and medium-sized diesel buses, CNG buses are serving over 250 routes. With a "Qikatong" card traveling by bus in the downtown area, passengers could get a discount of 10% to 40%. Now Zibo is undergoing restructuring of its public transit system, aiming at intensive management of higher efficiency and more professional service. Full-electric buses and taxis are now incorporated into daily operations.

Education Zibo is a national "advanced city invigorating itself through science and technology", "cultural model city" and "technology-intensive area". Within the city's boundaries, 443,000 (data of 2008) students from Grade 1 to Grade 9 are taught in 379 primary schools and 169 middle schools respectively under the compulsory education system, which belongs to a bigger education system of the nation. School districts are divided according to both neighborhoods and administrative districts. The number of high schools is 42.

There are 14 institutions of higher education. Among them the Shandong University of Technology and Wanjie Medical College are able to offer the bachelor's degree, the rest being vocational universities. There are also postgraduate education and PhD programs in Shandong University of Technology. The education system of Zibo offers more than 30 key majors, including mechanics, electronics and informatics, biological pharmacological science, textile and clothes and logistics, and can provide local enterprises with 30,000 specialized technical personnel every year.