Licheng District 历城区

Setting and landscape

Low mountains of 500 to 976.2 m make up 67 percent of the district, mainly around Liubu (柳埠), Xiying (西营) and southern Gangou (港沟); Tizi Mountain (梯子山) in Xiying is the highest point, and the valleys between form the "three streams and ten great gorges" (三川十大峪). The three streams, the Jinxiu (锦绣川), Jinyang (锦阳川) and Jinyun (锦云川), gather in Wohushan Reservoir (卧虎山水库), and they also feed the city's spring groups. North of the Jiaoji railway lies plain; beyond the Xiaoqing River (小清河) it is Yellow River alluvium, turned over to rice in the 1980s. The Yellow River runs 31.21 km through the district.

History

People have lived here for more than 5,000 years, and in the Spring and Autumn period the border between Qi (齐) and Lu (鲁) ran through the area. Licheng County was founded in 153 BC; under the Western Jin the seat of Jinan commandery moved into it, and in 1376 the Shandong provincial government moved here from Qingzhou (青州). When Jinan city was carved out of the county in 1929, Licheng was left with the surrounding suburbs. Its seat moved to Wangsheren (王舍人) in 1936 and to the Hongjialou (洪家楼) area in 1958.

What to see

Hongjialou Catholic Church (洪家楼天主教堂), built in 1905 in Gothic style, has two front bell towers about 60 m high and has been a provincial protected site since 1995; the old campus of Shandong University lies just to the north. Huashan (华山) is a lone peak counted first of the "nine specks of Qi smoke" (齐烟九点); the classic painting Autumn Colours on the Que and Hua Mountains (鹊华秋色图) shows Licheng's scenery.

The Daxinzhuang site (大辛庄古文化遗址) near Wangsheren is a large Shang dynasty site with thick deposits, provincially protected since 1977. The Song poet Xin Qiji (辛弃疾) was born in 1140 in Sifengzha village (四风闸村), in Yaoqiang (遥墙), where restoration of the hometown site began in 1996 to a design with a stone gateway, a stele pavilion and a 2.8 m statue. In the southern mountains, run by Jinan's Southern Mountain Area committee and called the provincial capital's back garden, the Four Gates Pagoda (四门塔) is a national key protected site.

Highlights

• Hongjialou Catholic Church 洪家楼天主教堂: Gothic church of 1905 with twin bell towers about 60 m high; provincial protected site.
• Huashan 华山: Lone peak counted first of the 'nine specks of Qi smoke'.
• Daxinzhuang site 大辛庄古文化遗址: Shang dynasty settlement, provincially protected since 1977.
• Xin Qiji's hometown 辛弃疾故里: Birthplace of the Song poet in Sifengzha village, where restoration of the hometown site began in 1996.
• Four Gates Pagoda 四门塔: National key protected site in the southern mountains.