Tianqiao District 天桥区

Getting oriented

The Yellow River and the Xiaoqing River (小清河) both cross the district. The Jiaoji (胶济) and Jinpu (津浦) railways meet here, and the main long-distance bus stations of Jinan are also inside the district. The Jiguang (济广) and Qingyin (青银) expressways pass through, linked to the elevated Shunhe (顺河) and Beiyuan (北园) roads.

Luokou (泺口) takes its name from the spot where the Luo River, fed by Baotu Spring (趵突泉) and the other Jinan springs, flowed into the Ji River (济水). It became a town under the Jin dynasty and, after the Yellow River changed its course, the largest Yellow River port in Shandong. Wulongtan (五龙潭), the main spring of the Wulongtan spring group, is also in Tianqiao.

History

In the Western Zhou the area belonged to the state of Tan (谭国) and later became Luo town (泺邑) of Qi. When Jinan was made a city on 1 July 1929, neighbourhoods such as Zhijinshi (制锦市), Beitan (北坦) and Tianqiao East Street were split off from Licheng County (历城县) to form part of it. The Fourth District was renamed Tianqiao in 1955, called Xiangyang (向阳区) from 1966 and given back the Tianqiao name in 1973. It once housed many chemical, paper, printing and dyeing, and car-making firms.

The district's folk arts include Hou family festival masks (侯氏社火脸谱), first made in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns of the Qing and passed down six generations. The "four crab lanterns" (四蟹灯) of Dikou actually show a fish, turtle, shrimp and clam, and the Beitan lantern dance "cat and butterfly bring wealth" (猫蝶富贵) puns on the words for old age.

Food and local products

Luokou vinegar (洛口醋) was brewed by more than ten workshops in 1855 and won a gold medal at the 1915 Panama exposition. The brewery keeps parts of the old process: workers stir the vats by hand wearing iron fingernails and let acetic bacteria settle from straw lids, aiming for vinegar that is sour, sweet, clear, bright and fragrant; the craft is on the Shandong provincial heritage list (2013). Tianmo Tang (甜沫唐), Tang Lingui's tianmo business at the corner of Yihe Street and Tianqiao East Street, makes tianmo (甜沫), a savoury millet-flour porridge with peanuts, vermicelli, dried tofu or tofu skin, and spinach whose name is a politer homophone of its earlier name "adding bits" (添末儿). Grape soft mooncakes (葡萄软月) are made at a factory on Dikou Road.

Highlights

• Luokou 泺口: Old town at the mouth of the Luo River that became the largest Yellow River port in Shandong.
• Wulongtan 五龙潭: Main spring of the Wulongtan spring group.
• Luokou vinegar 洛口醋: Hand-stirred vinegar; provincial intangible heritage since 2013.
• Tianmo Tang 甜沫唐: Shop making savoury millet porridge; municipal intangible heritage since 2012.