Shandong's capital still called the City of Springs
Jinan, capital of China's Shandong province, counts about 9.2 million people and a nickname earned from seventy-two famed artesian springs. The name means "south of the Ji," a river whose bed the Yellow River captured in 1852. Neolithic Longshan culture was first recognised nearby at Chengziya in 1928.
Oracle bones already link the area to Luo—Baotu Spring—and the Spring and Autumn Battle of An (589 BCE) was fought inside today's city limits. From Zhou through Western Jin the main seat was East Pingling; later Licheng. After Qin unified China, Han-era Jinan served as capital of the feudatory Kingdom of Jibei. A 1995–96 dig at Liu Kuan's tomb recovered more than two thousand jade and other objects from roughly 1,500 square metres. Cao Cao once held office here before his son founded Wei.
From the fifth century CE Buddhism flourished in southern hills—Langgong/Shentong Temple, Lingyan Temple, Thousand-Buddha Cliff. Song-era Jinan produced Li Qingzhao and Xin Qiji, major Southern Song poets forced into exile when Jurchen Jin took the north. Hongwu made Jinan capital of Shandong, displacing Qingzhou. The 1852 Yellow River shift tied the city to the Grand Canal; German-built Jiaoji railway opened in 1904 after Qingdao's lease, cementing a trade hub for cotton, grain, peanuts, and tobacco.
Marco Polo mentioned "Chingli" or "Chinangli." Joseph Needham called local thinker Zou Yan (305–240 BCE) "the real founder of all Chinese scientific thought" for yin-yang and Five Elements ideas. Today Jinan holds sub-provincial status (since 1994), hosts Shandong University in the Double First-Class cohort, and ranks in the Nature Index among leading science cities. The springs remain the civic brand even as the vanished Ji River explains the toponym.
Source: Jinan
