History and Reforms
With a time-honored history, Yantai is one of the earliest birthplaces of ancient Chinese civilization. As early as in the late Pleistocene (About 10000 years ago), there were human beings living here. In the ancient time, it once belonged to Dongyi Man, who established its state at Xia Period. At the Shang, West Zhou, Spring& Autumn Period, Yantai was a part of Lai State. Yantai respectively belonged to Qi State in Warring States Period, Qi Prefecture in Qin Dynasty, Donglai Prefecture in Han Dynasty, Donglai State in Jin Dynasty, Donglai& Changguang Prefecture in Southern & Northern Dynasties, Laizhou in Sui Dynasty, Dengzhou and Laizhou in Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Prefecture of Dengzhou and Laizhou in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the year of A.D. 1398 (the 31st year of Emperor Hongwu of Ming Dynasty), the government of Ming Dynasty established Qishan fortification, which was the earliest form of Yantai City. A beacon tower being built in Zhifu, also called “platform of wolf fire”, is where Yantai got its name. In the year of A.D. 1858 (the 8th year of Emperor Xianfeng of Qing Dynasty), the government of Qing Dynasty signed “ Tianjin Treaty” with Britain and France, opening Dengzhou as a Trade Port, whose name was changed as Yantai in 1861. Afterwards, 17 countries such as the UK, France and USA, established their consulates here one after another. After the foundation of the new People’s Republic of China, Wendeng and Laiyang Prefectures and Yantai Municipality were established in 1950, Yantai prefecture was established in 1958 and Yantai prefecture-level city in November of 1983.
Natural Geography
Located in the east part of Shandong Peninsula, bordering the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, Yantai overlooks Japan, North Korea and South Korea across the sea. Encompassed by seas and mountains, Yantai has a picturesque scenery and four distinctive seasons. The broad golden beach, fantastic big and small islands, famous Penglai Pavilion and magical mirage make Yantai a tourism resort enjoying great reputation both at home and abroad. The main terrain feature of Yantai is low mountain and hill of gentle fluctuation. The country, hill, plain and low-lying land acount for 36.6%, 39.7%, 20.8% and 2.9% of the whole area. The mountains of over 500m altitude include Daze Mountain, Aishan Mountain, Luoshan Mountain, Yashan Mountain, Kunyu Mountain, Zhaohu Mountain, etc, among which Kunyu Mountain is the highest one, with the altitude of 922.8m. There are a number of rivers, among which 121 rivers are longer than 5km. Each one of the eight rivers such as Wulong River, Dagu River, Dagujiahe River, Xin’an River covers the drainage area of more than 300km². The coast line of Yantai is 909km. There are 63 big and small bedrock islands, among which Chifu Island, South Changshan Island and Horse Raising Island are the larger ones and 5 islands are inhabited. Yantai belongs to warm temperate continental and monsoon climate. Yantai enjoys adequate rainfall, humid air and mild climate. The annual average rainfall and temperature of Yantai City is 765.4mm and 12.7°C. The sunshine duration per year is 2441.6 hours and the frost free period is 284 days.
Natural Resources
Yantai is endowed with abundant ocean and fishery resources. It is rich in many precious sea products such as sea cucumber, prawn, abalone, scallop, etc,. With more than 200 offshore fishery biological species, among which 100 ones have fishing value. Yantai is an important fishery base and a famous fruit base in Northern China. It has many famous native and special products which is renowned both at home and abroad. Eight products such as Yantai Wine, Yantai Apple, Yantai Big Cherry, Yantai Sea Cucumber have been aproved as National Geographical Indication Protection Products. Eleven products such as Yantai Apple, Laiyang Pear, Yantai Big Cherry, Laizhou Portunid have been approved to get the National Geographical Indication Protection Trade Marks. Yantai abounds in its underground mineral reserves, which is evident with the fact that over 70 mineral resources have been discovered and some 40 minerals have verified deposits. Both the reserve volume and output of Gold rank the 1st place in China. The reserve volume of magnesite, molybdenum and talcum are among the front five ranks of China. There are richful oil and natural gas resources at the offshore continental shelf, which belongs to “enriched oildom”.
Administration and Population
Under jurisdiction of Yantai there are 4 districts, 1 county, 7 county-level cities, as well as a state-level economic and technological development zone, an export processing zone and a high-tech industry park, 93towns, 6townships, 50subdistrict offices, 585Residents committees, 6,199 villagers committees, 6,848 unincorporated villages. Yantai covers a total area of 13,700 km2 with an urban area of 2,722 km2. At the end of 2009 its registered permanent residents reached 6.52 million with an urban population of 1.8 million. The average birth rate of Yantai was 6.78‰, mortality rate 7.36‰ and population growth rate -0.58‰.
Infrastructure
The highway mileage in Yantai reached 14,206.2 km, in which trunk road was 2257.5 km long and expressway 414 km long. The Principal project of electrified renovation of Lanyan Railway has been completed and the construction of Longyan Railway and the inter-city railway connecting Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai are currently under way. In 2009 the freight and passenger flow of Yantai-Dalian Railway Ferry Track amounted to 7.539 million tons and 332,000 person-times respectively.
Port
There are 10 major ports in Yantai, among which 6 ports including Zhifu Bay Port, Longkou Port, Laizhou Port and Penglai East Port are first-class opening ports. Yantai has established direct shipping lines with over 100 ports of more than 70 countries and regions. There are 162 productive berths in Yantai, in which 60 berths are of over 10,000 tons with handling capacity of 83.15million tons a year. In 2009, the total cargo throughput reached 169 million tons, up by 15.2% year on year, among which the container handling was 1.401 million TEU, and the passenger flow hit 9.5 million person-times.
Civil Aviation
Yantai Laishan International Airport, which was put into operation in 10, 1984, was classified as the first class open airport by State Council in 1, 1997. In 2009, a total of 25,800 flights arrived at or departed from Yantai Laishan International Airport, an increase of 22.7%. Yantai has flights to 36 cities by the end of 2009. The passenger transport capacity and freight handling capacity registered 2.1 million person-times and 30,000 tons, grown by 22.7% and 15.8%. Cargo flight from Yantai to Los Angeles and Amsterdam were launched. Yantai Chaoshui International airport begun its construction and was listed as pilot project in airport reform in China.
Electricity
The power generation capacity of Yantai reached 4.16 million Kilowatts. Electricity generated in 2009 registered 22 billion KWh with total consumption of electricity reaching 26.2 billion KWh. 6 million-KW nuclear power generators will be built in Haiyang with installed capacity reaching 8.7 million KW. There are 11 wind farms established in Yantai with installed capacity of 377,000 KW.
Water
The annual supply of water is about 850 million cubic meters with daily supply of water of 2.38 million cubic meters. The water diversion project from the Yellow River has been completed with open channel connecting Menlou reservoir.
Post and Telecommunications
Yantai boasts advanced multiple network platforms such as digital data network, internet and computer management network for local telephone. Program-controlled telecommunication systems are accessible both in urban and rural areas. In 2009, the output of post and telecommunication industry amounted to 671 million Yuan. The installed capacity of telephone exchanges totaled 3.43 million with fixed telephone and mobile subscribers registering 1.843 million and 6.049 million.
