Shizhong District 市中区

Setting and landscape

Lixia (历下区) lies to the east, Changqing (长清区) and Huaiyin (槐荫区) to the west, Tianqiao (天桥区) to the north and Licheng (历城区) to the south. The ground rises from about 30 m in the north to 450.5 m in the south, where Xinglong Mountain (兴隆山), Taohua Mountain (桃花山) and Dazhai Mountain (大寨山) stand; Foyu Gully (佛峪沟) and Qingtong Mountain (青铜山) are in the east. The north has seven named springs, among them Dengzhou (登州泉), Wangshui (望水泉), Donggao (东高泉), Dukang (杜康泉) and Shuangtao (双桃泉).

History

The area was farmland west of old Licheng until the Qing laid out a commercial port at Jinan from 1904, of which it became the eastern part; the port formally opened on 15 November 1905. Unlike other open ports, Jinan opened it on its own terms and allowed no foreign concessions. Its grid of roads runs from Weiyi Road (纬一路) to Weishi'er Road (纬十二路) and from Jingyi Road (经一路) to Jingqi Road (经七路). The long east-west roads are called jing (经, "warp") and the short ones wei (纬, "weft"), borrowing from weaving, the reverse of the map terms. The old port is now split between Shizhong and Huaiyin. After Jinan was taken in 1948 the area became the Fifth District, renamed Shizhong in 1955.

What to see

The former Shandong Postal Administration (山东邮务管理局旧址) on Jing'er Road (经二路) is a Western classical building of 1918 to 1919 facing the former German consulate. Japanese forces seized it for their headquarters at the end of 1937, and its 1923 rebuild was the first use of reinforced concrete in Jinan; it has been a provincial protected site since 2006.

Jinan Great Southern Mosque (济南清真南大寺) on Yongchang Street (永长街) is the oldest mosque in the city, moved to its present site in 1295 and enlarged under the Ming and Qing. Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery (济南革命烈士陵园) on Yingxiong Mountain (英雄山), formerly Sili Mountain, was built from 1949 for soldiers of the East China Field Army killed in the 1948 Jinan Campaign. It includes the Jinan Campaign Memorial Hall and a 34.64 m granite memorial tower inscribed by Mao Zedong.

Highlights

• Jinan commercial port 济南商埠: Grid of jing and wei roads laid out after the port opened in 1905.
• Former Shandong Postal Administration 山东邮务管理局旧址: Western classical building of 1918 to 1919 on Jing'er Road; provincial protected site.
• Jinan Great Southern Mosque 济南清真南大寺: Jinan's oldest mosque, on its present site since 1295.
• Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery 济南革命烈士陵园: Built from 1949 on Yingxiong Mountain, with the Jinan Campaign Memorial Hall.