Shandong

old and new buildings in Jinan

Shandong province

Shandong, Wade-Giles romanization Shan-tung, conventional Shantung, northern coastal sheng (province) of China, lying across the Yellow Sea from the Korean peninsula. Shandong is China’s second most populous province, its population exceeded only by that of Henan. The name Shandong, which means “East of Mountains,” was first officially used during the Jin dynasty in the 12th century.

The province consists of two distinct segments. The first is an inland zone bounded by the provinces of Hebei to the north and west, Henan to the southwest, and Anhui and Jiangsu to the south. The second is the Shandong Peninsula, extending some 200 miles (320 km) seaward from the Wei and Jiaolai river plains, with the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli) to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south; the peninsula accounts for a large share of the province’s coastline of some 1,575 miles (2,535 km).

The inland zone, covering roughly two-thirds of the province’s total area, includes a hilly central region, centred on the famous Mount Tai complex, and a fertile and intensively farmed agricultural area on the north, west, and south, which forms part of the Huang He (Yellow River) basin and the North China Plain. The provincial capital, Jinan, is situated just northwest of Mount Tai and about 3 miles (5 km) south of the Huang He, which flows from southwest to northeast through the province before emptying into the Bo Hai.

The Shandong Peninsula, by contrast, is entirely an upland area and, with its seaward orientation and indented coastline, has traditionally depended on fishing, mining, and port-related activities. Long a focal area in the evolution of Chinese civilization and institutions, the province’s natural inland-peninsular division is paralleled by a dual orientation in its past and present political and economic configurations. The eastern peninsula historically had coveted autonomy, whereas the inland portion was closely tied to the inward-facing empire. Area 59,200 square miles (153,300 square km). Pop. (2020) 101,527,453.