Jining city in Shandong province is blazing a new trail in the protection, inheritance and promotion of the Yellow River culture and boosting the ecological protection and the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin in an all-round way.

Jining takes the construction of the Yellow River National Cultural Park as a starting point, boosts the integrated development of the Yellow River culture, Confucianism and the Grand Canal culture, and is building the Yellow River cultural experience corridor with policies including the Jining Yellow River Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Promotion Special Plan.

In 2022, the city allocated a special fund of 62.87 million yuan ($9.14 million) to protect cultural relics. Seventeen cultural preservation and archaeological projects in Jining were listed as the 2023 Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Projects and eight projects were approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration as the 2023 National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units, which ranked first in Shandong.

It has completed a batch of archaeological exploration projects such as the Qinggudui site in Liangshan county and the evaluation of cultural relics in Yandian. The ancient city of Lu Kingdom (1042-256 BC) in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, is considered a National Archaeological Site Park and a national cultural site during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the only of its kind in the province. 

Jining also strengthens the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage items through a series of activities included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Month, the 24 Solar Terms, art shows, operas and performances featuring folk customs. 

Relying on its abundant resources and profound cultures, the city is integrating culture and tourism industries by creating a variety of top tourist destinations such as the Weishan Lake scenic spot, a national 5A-level tourist attraction, Qufu, a provincial cultural tourism county, and the Weishan Island healthcare resort.

Jining has also developed boutique tourist routes concentrating on Confucianism, Nishan Sacred Land, Weishan Lake, Nanyang Ancient Town and Yishan Mountain, and include the Weishan Lake Ecological Red Culture Tour and the Confucian Cultural Classic Tour.

A stretch of the Yellow River in Jining. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]