Shandong, despite being a cradle of Chinese civilization and the birthplace of Confucius, is a name little known outside of China. However, expats and in-the-know China travelers know Shandong for two things prized the world over: beer and beaches.
Both are centered on the pleasant port of Qingdao, where China's most popular beer, Tsingtao, is brewed with pristine Lao Shan spring water. Fans of Germany's Oktoberfest will be happy to know that Qingdao has its own annual suds blowout: the Qingdao International Beer Festival, from Sept 19 to Oct 5, is the optimal time to consume mass quantities of Tsingtao's palatable pilsner. Prost and ganbei!
In the summer months, tourists, mostly Chinese but with a peppering of foreigners, pack Qingdao's beaches. Those who can't find a spot on the beach might tour the Tsingtao Brewery or stroll down Qingdao's unique Bavarian-flavored concession-era streets (especially in the Taixi area), picking up souvenirs and snacking on German-style sausages along the way. Qingdao makes a great family destination with its opportunities for hiking, sailing (Olympic sailing competitions were held here), sampling fresh seafood and taking in Beluga whale shows at world-class Qingdao aquariums and marine parks.
Shandong is, of course, more than just Qingdao. In northeastern Shandong, fertile flood plains surround the Yellow River as it wends its way to the sea, contained by impressive levees engineered over centuries as the first line of defense against the notoriously flood-prone waterway. Shandong's ancient heritage can be experienced as fragments of Neolithic pottery whether in Jinan's Shandong Provincial Museum or from the summit of nearby Tai Shan, one of China's five holy Taoist mountains. Myriad temples and pavilions dot the slopes of Tai Shan, which draws over half a million visitors yearly, many of them pilgrims come to worship Taoist divinities as in centuries past.
Shandong is also birthplace to China's most illustrious son: Confucius. Those looking to trace the great statesman/philosopher's roots should visit the city of Qufu to ponder the halls of the Cunfucius Temple and wander the grounds of Confucius Mansion, a massive complex on par with Chengde's Imperial Summer Resort and Beijing's Forbidden City.
Shandong is also a fantastic destination for gourmands; its native cuisine, known as lucai, is one of the eight major varieties of Chinese cooking. Big on seafood, soups and a variety of vinegars, Shandong cuisine tends toward light and delicate flavors that may surprise those who know Chinese food primarily from better-known regional styles such as Sichuanese and Cantonese.
Wherever you go in Shandong, don't be surprised if you are the recipient of an unusual number of hellos and smiles; Shandong's people are proud of their reputation for hospitality. It's a tradition that goes back all the way to Confucius, who is quoted in The Analects as saying, "Is it not a great pleasure to have guests coming from afar?"
Shandong's position on prime agricultural land at the eastern edge of the North China Plain has allowed human societies to flourish since remote antiquity.
During the earliest dynasties, which arose to the west in the Yellow River valley provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan, Shandong was an area inhabited by several states and peoples, including the "barbarian" Laiyi people, who were masters of pottery, as well as Shang (1766-1046 BC) and Zhou 1045-256 BC) dynasty settlements. Zhou power dissolved during the Spring and Autumn Period when the states of Qi and Lu rose in Shandong. This was the time of Confucius (551-479 BC), born in Qufu in the state of Lu.
Kong Fuzi, as he is known in Chinese, is considered, among other things, to be the first great Chinese humanist, whose teachings on ethics and governance have had such a global impact that he was raised to the level of a Divine Prophet of God by Ahmadiyya Muslims and influenced the great thinkers of Enlightenment Europe. Born near the city of Qufu, Confucius would spend his life trying to reform first his home state of Lu, and then others, only to find disappointment in leaders unwilling to embrace his high ideals.
Among the ideals Confucius expounded was the well known principle "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself," an ethic of reciprocity found in every major religion and the basis for modern concepts of human rights. Confucius emphasized good judgment and critical thinking over obedience to laws. Though he believed in absolute rule by single individuals, he deplored tyranny and believed that rulers should be accountable and lead the country not by invoking the coercion of laws imposed, but by cultivating natural morality and setting moral examples for subjects to follow.
After rising to the position of Justice Minister in his home state of Lu, Confucius quickly became disgusted at the Duke of Lu's dissolute moral conduct and contrived reasons to leave the state so that he could try to have his ideals implemented elsewhere. He set off on a journey that would see him in the courts of the states of Wei, Song, Chen and Cai, but none of the states reformed and he returned home disillusioned. He would spend his last years transmitting his wisdom to disciples via a set of texts called the Five Classics. Confucius' small state of Lu was consumed by the larger, more powerful state of Qi, eventually to be destroyed by Qin, which founded the first unified Chinese dynasty in 221 BC.
The following few hundred years would prove to be tumultuous with the territory frequently changing hands until becoming part of the Northern Dynasties during the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period. Even this would prove to be relatively short lived as China split into warlord factions and eventually be dominated by the foreign Jurchen Jin. Shandong acquired its modern borders under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who opened Manchuria to Han Chinese immigration during the 19th century.
In 1897, Qingdao was leased to Germany, giving rise to the unique Bavarian feel the city enjoys today. However, as a result of growing foreign influence, mass-migrations and catastrophic flooding, the province became unstable, seething with a frustration that gave rise to the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers, named as such by Europeans observing their martial arts practices, were a violent anti-foreign, anti-Qing, anti-Christian movement started by a group called the "Righteous Fists of Harmony" in Shandong in 1898.
Attempting to deal with the dual threats of Western power and Boxer aggression, Empress Dowager Cixi pitted Boxers against foreigners, resulting in the Taiyuan Massacre in which 48 Catholic missionaries and 18,000 Chinese Catholics were slaughtered. In response, the Eight-Nation Alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States crushed the rebellion and extracted massive war reparations, a humiliating burden that helped further weaken the Qing, leading to the 1911 revolution that overthrew China's last dynasty.
With the shaky launch of the Republic of China in 1912, Shandong fell under the rule of a succession of unruly warlord-governors, Qingdao and Weihai excluded, which would remain under the colonial control of the Germans and British respectively until 1922 (Qingdao) and 1930 (Weihai). In 1937, Japan's pan-Asian-Pacific imperial ambitions were unleashed on a weakened China, and Shandong quickly fell to the invaders, remaining under occupation until 1945. During China's civil war, Shandong provided haven for communist forces, and in the wake of 1945's defeat of the Kuomintang by the Mao-led reds, the province was increasingly industrialized.
Despite the major setbacks of experienced nationwide during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Shandong today boasts China's second strongest provincial economy powered by manufacturing, oil discoveries in the Bohai sea and Shengli oilfield, as well as increased tourism.