Shandong Province

Abstract

Shandong Province, along with Henan, possesses a large share of archeological sites that trace back to the earliest progenitors of Chinese civilization. In addition to evidence of Neolithic human settlements going back to ca. 6500 BCE, Shang dynastic culture spread from Henan to Shandong in ca. 1000 BCE, and, of course, Shandong (the State of Lu) was the birthplace of Confucius (551–479 BCE). The State of Qi (also in present-day Shandong) was among the prominent Warring States (ca. 260 BCE). If the historical data are to be believed, the Mongolian invasion (ca. 1300 CE) led to a steep drop in Shandong’s population. In more modern times, Germany held a lease on a part of Shandong in the nineteenth century, while Japan occupied the province along with other large swaths of northern Chinese territory from 1937–1945. Today, Shandong’s economy ranks in the upper third of China’s 31 provinces and major cities, with a gross domestic product of USD $1.14 billion, and a per capita income of over USD $5,000. Its relatively prosperous economy likely explains its relatively brisk population growth of 6% from 2010–2020.