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Shandong Provincial Museum

This new museum opened in 2011 and contains a stunning collection of ancient Chinese art: calligraphy, bronzes, paintings, ceramics, textiles. They've got it all. Each gallery has bilingual signage to provide background about the pieces, though most of the actual pieced don't have English...

This new museum opened in 2011 and contains a stunning collection of ancient Chinese art: calligraphy, bronzes, paintings, ceramics, textiles. They've got it all. Each gallery has bilingual signage to provide background about the pieces, though most of the actual pieced don't have English descriptions.

As Confucius lived and taught in Shandong, there's a gallery about his life with artifacts that illuminate his work and the era he lived in.

The museum is large enough to get a full sense of the region's history and culture, without being so immense that it exhausts or overwhelms.

 

Da Ming Lake

In ancient times the local residents of Jinan were confused as to why they couldn’t hear frogs croak or snakes slither at Da Ming Lake. Today science has led the savvy Chinese to discover that this freshwater lake is fed by multiple natural springs throughout Jinan. Therefore Da Ming Lake&r...

In ancient times the local residents of Jinan were confused as to why they couldn’t hear frogs croak or snakes slither at Da Ming Lake. Today science has led the savvy Chinese to discover that this freshwater lake is fed by multiple natural springs throughout Jinan. Therefore Da Ming Lake’s temperature is too cold for the frogs to get hot during mating season. As for the snakes, they’ve found warmer pastures.

Photo:  Cui Hong Jiang (崔洪江)

Da Ming Lake is dappled with vendors of ancient classic books and trinkets, a few amusement rides, and the real crown of my trip there, an extremely old Taoist Temple. Be very careful not to take any of the temple’s spirits home with you! You can also rent a paddle boat or simply swing from willow branches weeping over the water edge.

There are gates on every side of the lake area. Admission to the lake is 25 yuan, so spend some time, relax, and make it a worthwhile venture.

How To Get There: 
Bus:  K98、K91、K54、6、11、14、30、31、33、36、37、41、63、83

The Map of Daming Lake:

Website:  www.daminglake.com

Bao Tu Quan Park (Baotu Spring Park)

Bao Tu Quan Park provided me with the best experience I've ever had in a park in China. It’s as if the soul of Chinese literature itself was breathing throughout the park, with natural springs as its gills. The park was the former home compound of Song Dynasty poetess Li Qing Zhao.  The park...

Bao Tu Quan Park provided me with the best experience I've ever had in a park in China. It’s as if the soul of Chinese literature itself was breathing throughout the park, with natural springs as its gills. The park was the former home compound of Song Dynasty poetess Li Qing Zhao.  The park contains a full museum devoted to her life and work, with placards in English and Chinese, and wax figures illustrating her childhood, marriage, and later years.

In addition to the poetry and history of Li Qing Zhao, the park is full of courtyards that guide you in and out of one another. Each one is devoted to a natural Chinese icon such as bamboo, plum, peach, crabtree, persimmon, or even the springs themselves. Therefore every courtyard inspires a different feeling, one that was carefully engineered by initiated feng shui masters!

Baotu Spring Park is located across the street from Quan Cheng Square (泉城广场) on Qingnian Xilu (青年西路), north of Luoyuan Da Jie (泺源大街) and south of Heihuquan Xilu.

Chinese Website

Thousand Buddha Mountain

I recommend visiting Thousand Buddha Mountain every few days during your stay in Jinan. Admission to the mountain costs 15 yuan, or you can purchase a year pass for 45 yuan. While there are many entrances to the grounds on all sides of the park, year passes can only be obtained at the Zheng Men (...

I recommend visiting Thousand Buddha Mountain every few days during your stay in Jinan. Admission to the mountain costs 15 yuan, or you can purchase a year pass for 45 yuan. While there are many entrances to the grounds on all sides of the park, year passes can only be obtained at the Zheng Men (正门), or main gate. The main gate is at the southern end of Qian Fo Shan Road (千佛山路, and the ticket office to the right of the gate sells year passes. Be sure to bring a passport photo in order to acquire the year pass.


 
There is a totally cool copper Buddha figure which measures 80 feet (25 m) in height. At the foot of the Buddha visitors can roller-skate or burn incense and pray.

   
Fly an eagle kite, bring a book or some playing cards, or just sit back and watch the local Chinese and foreign communities of Jinan stretch their legs together. Just to the west of big Buddha is a large concrete statue of Guanyin, a female Buddha, sitting atop a labyrinthine cave complex.

Jogging, sitting, singing, and tai chi all take place throughout the extensive grounds. Plenty of public art displays within the gradens make for an enjoyable morning or afternoon stroll. Still, the best part of the grounds is the mountain itself.  Climbing a little in elevation to improve your view of Jinan is simply great. Sometimes we all just need to get out of the morass and gain perspective. When you reach the summit of Thousand Buddha Mountain look to the south of Jinan....into the mountain range which leads up to Mount Tai... the foremost Taoist peak in China!

Chinese Website

Liberation Pavilion

The liberation pavilion is a famous scenic spot in jinan city. It is located in the southeast corner of the old city wall of jinan and the east side of the black tiger spring. Chinese classical architectural form, golden yellow glazed tile, external use of granite surface. The pavilion is divided...

The liberation pavilion is a famous scenic spot in jinan city. It is located in the southeast corner of the old city wall of jinan and the east side of the black tiger spring. Chinese classical architectural form, golden yellow glazed tile, external use of granite surface. The pavilion is divided into two layers, square on all sides. The lower part of the ring corridor, the corridor and the pavilion are connected by the house. The gallery has landscape, flowers, fish insects, birds, animals and other small products. The gallery is a platform, and a stone column. The upper part of the roof, the top of the roof, the arch of the eaves, the arch support, the kissing animals fly, the fengling Yang yun. The whole building is majestic and magnificent.

Meanwhile, it is one of the education bases of jinan patriotism. Standing in the liberation pavilion, people can not only pay tribute to the heroic performance of the heroes, but also overlook the lush green mountains of nanshan. Looking down on your excellency, the black tiger springs in the shadow of the trees, the shagginess, the gurgling water, such as the melodious hymn, is refreshing.

Shandong Museum

Shandong province has a long history, but not a unified dynasty capital in history, as a centralized long old empire, not a capital city means that there will be no outstanding cultural relics. Therefore, if you come to the museum in shandong province, you will be disappointed.

Cultural rel...

Shandong province has a long history, but not a unified dynasty capital in history, as a centralized long old empire, not a capital city means that there will be no outstanding cultural relics. Therefore, if you come to the museum in shandong province, you will be disappointed.

Cultural relics on display at the museum of shandong province is very big, is also very rich, the most distinctive is the stone, especially the dongping, murals, writing is the first domestic existing with color murals, as you can see the han people elegant clothes and slim:)

In addition, buddhist statues display a number of exquisite statues from the qingzhou longxing temple, but if you have ever visited the qingzhou museum, you will forget what you have seen here.

General history exhibition level, no impressive cultural relics.