Yantai Overview

Baisc Information

• Chinese Name: 烟台
• Location: Located on the Bohai Strait in northeastern Shandong Province
• Area: About 13,745.95 square kilometers
• Population: 7,089,400
• Language: Mandarin, Yantai dialect

Administrative Division

As a prefecture-level city, Yantai administers 12 county-level divisions, including 4 districts, 7 county-level cities, 1 county, and development zones.

• 4 districts: Zhifu District (芝罘区), Fushan District (福山区), Muping District (牟平区), Laishan District (莱山区)
• 7 county-level cities: Laiyang City (莱阳市), Laizhou City (莱州市), Penglai City (蓬莱市), Zhaoyuan City (招远市), Qixia City (栖霞市), Haiyang City (海阳市), Lonkou City(长岛市)
• 1 county : Changdao County (长岛县)
• Development zones: Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone (烟台经济技术开发区), Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (烟台高新技术产业开发区)

These divisions are further divided into 148 township-level divisions, including 94 towns, 6 townships, and 48 sub-districts.

Geography

Yantai is located along the north coast of the Shandong Peninsula, south of the junction of Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. It parallels to the southern coast of Liaoning. The topographical breakdown consists of 36.62% mountainous and 39.7% hilly areas, 50.23% plain and 2.90% basin. About an area of 2,643.60 square kilometers is urbanized. Only Qixia City is located entirely inland, and all other county-level entities are coastal cities, with Changdao consisting entirely of islands. The total coastline of the Yantai is 909 kilometers.

The summits in the hill country vary from 100 to 300 meters; the average peak in the mountainous regions is 500 meters, and the highest point of elevation is the summit of Mount Kunyu, with an altitude of 922.8 meters. In addition to various levels of hills, waters there are rich as well.

There are 121 rivers over 5 kilometers in length, and the largest five are Wulong River, Dagu River, Dagujia River, Wang River, Jie River, Huangshui River and Xin'an River.

Climate

Located in north China, but monsoons regulate the climate there, keeping the area warm and humid. The average annual temperature of Yantai weather is 11.8°C. The climate here is fairly pleasant. To know more about Yantai Climate.

The Best Time to Go

Owing to the continental monsoon climate, Yantai is neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer. With an annual average temperature of 11.8°C, Yantai enjoys agreeable weather with four seasons. Therefore, excluding the winter periodic from November to next January, spring and summer are recommended seasons to go. Since Pear and rape flowers in spring are worthy appreciating and pleasant weather could make your visiting more pleasant.

Things to Do

As a city with abundant tourist resources both in natural sceneries and cultural relics, what tourists can not miss in Yantai is to enjoy its diverse scenic spots. For instance, to visit Changyu Wine Culture Museum which has about thirty years' history and shows the development of the Changyu wine would provide you a good place to learn wine knowledge and taste wine. Outside of the city proper, to visit Penglai Pavilion Scenic Area which was also called "fairy land" in ancient time because the mirage appears very often there could bring you closer to the nature. In there, you could see Penglai Pavilion, the Ancient Ship Museum and the Penglai Water City as well.

Transportation

With Yantai’s rapid economic development, facilities there are promoting, and transportation is becoming more and more convenient. Ships, trains, airplanes, high-speed trains, buses, taxis, various kinds of shared transport tools are all available in Yantai. To know more about Yantai The Best Time to Go
Owing to the continental monsoon climate, Yantai is neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer. With an annual average temperature of 11.8°C, Yantai enjoys agreeable weather with four seasons. Therefore, excluding the winter periodic from November to next January, spring and summer are recommended seasons to go. Since Pear and rape flowers in spring are worthy appreciating and pleasant weather could make your visiting more pleasant.

History

During the period of Xia and Shang dynasty, the region was inhabited by indigenous peoples vaguely known to the Chinese as the "Eastern Barbarians" (Dongyi). In some periods of the history, like the time of First Emperor who was called Qinshihuang in Chinese, the area was administered as the Qi Commandery. Under the Tang and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, it was known as Deng Prefecture and organized with the Henan Circuit. It was then organized as the Laizhou and then, under the Qing, Dengzhou Commandery. After that, Yantai experienced many times of name changing and witnessed varying history movement in different dynasties.

In addition to its history development in those dynasties which mainly focuses on its changes in domestic situation, this area experienced sometime that had conflicts with other countries like Germany and Japan. Like much of the rest of Shandong, Yantai was ever controlled by the Germans for about 20 years. In the run-up to the First World War, its trade continued to grow but was restrained by the poor conditions road of the area's hinterland and the necessity of using pack animals for portage. The trade items remained largely the same as before. After the Germans were defeated by Allied forces in World War I, Qingdao and Yantai were handed over to the Japanese, who turned Yantai into a summer station for their Asian fleet. They also set up a trading establishment in the town.

However, the city's colourful history has not left a distinctive architectural mark, and there has never been a foreign concession. Although there are a few grand 19th-century European buildings, most of the town is of much more recent origin. After 1949, the town's name was changed from Chefoo to Yantai, and it was opened to the world as an ice-free trade port in 1984.

Culture

Known as the hometown of Peking Opera, Lu cuisine, athletics and calligraphy, Yantai provides profound culture. Hayang’s yangko (a popular rural folk dance), Laizhou’s Languan opera, Jiaodong drum, the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, etc. over 13 items were listed to national intangible cultural heritage list. There are 10 professional performing art teams, 14 public libraries, 14 mass art galleries and 9 museums in Yantai.

Besides, Yantai is a typical region that ethnic minorities live in scattered. In 2015, there are 50 nationality groups including 49 minority groups like the Korean, the Hui, Mongol, Wa nationality, etc., with a population about 1% of its total population. To know more about Yantai Culture.

Economy

Currently, Yantai is the second largest industrial city in Shandong province, next to Qingdao. And its largest industry is agriculture. It is famous throughout China for a particular variety of apple and Laiyang pear. Also, Yantai is home to the country's largest and oldest grape winery company.

There are two industrial zones in Yantai, and they are Yantai Economic and Technological Development Area and Yantai Export Processing Zone.

As one of the earliest approved state-level economic development zones in China, Yantai Economic and Technological Development Area now has an area of 10 kilometers and a population of 115,000. It lies on the tip of the Shandong Peninsula facing the Yellow Sea. It adjoins downtown Yantai, merely 6 kilometers away from Yantai Port, 6 kilometers away from Yantai Railway Station, and a 30-minute drive to Yantai International Airport.

Yantai Export Processing Zone (YTEPZ) is one of the first 15 export processing zones approved by the State Council. The total construction area of YTEPZ is 4.17 km2, in which the initial zone covers 3 km2. At present, the zone is with standard workshops of 120,000 m2 and bonded warehouses of 40,000 m2. Up to now, owing to an excellent investment environment, YTEPZ has attracted investors from foreign countries and regions such as Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sweden, the United States, Canada, etc., as well as domestic investors, to operate in the zone.

Festivals

With a long history, Yantai enjoys lots of unique located festivals and activities, such as playing land boat (a folk dance), donkey dance, Jiaodang Yanko, etc. In addition to some traditional activities, there are some special festivals that could show the features of local cultures.

Tourism

In recent years, Yantai has strengthened the macro-guidance and management of tourism, constantly increased investment, vigorously developed the city’s resources, and actively expanded the tourism market, so the city’s domestic and foreign tourism has achieved good results. And its favorable location, which faces Japan and Korea across the sea, assists it in welcoming lots of tourists. Also, as a place that is blessed with lovely natural sceneries and cultural relics, tourism in Yantai enjoy good development conditions.

Dining

Each place has its own special cusine in China. Shandong is renowned for its Lu dishes. The Fushan District of Yantai is named “hometown of Lu dishes”. Besides, Yantai is bordered by sea and seafood is naturally in abundance. So the ingredients of food there are of seafood based, consisting of crabs, prawns, sea-cucumber, scallops, etc. Thus, Lu dishes wheat based food and seafood are important segments in Yantai food.