Asia > East Asia > China > Northern Central Region (China) > Shandong > Jinan
Jinan
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Jinan (济南 Jǐnán) is the capital of Shandong. It is on the Yellow River (Huang He).
[edit] Get inJinan is the hub of traffic for the region and province so you'll likely end up here if heading elsewhere in Shandong, notably Qingdao and Yantai. Most people will arrive by bus or train. Be advised that Jinan in infamous for the worst air pollution in the world and is famous in China as being one of the four hottest cities in the middle kingdom. Statistics are hard to find and often fudged but in 2004 it was ranked 8th in the world for air pollution. Also, the temperature in winter and summer is always fudged by the local govt. So when the news says its a balmy 38 degrees centigrade (100 degrees farenheit) rest assured it's more than likely 46 degrees (115 degrees farenheit) - because all city workers get to go home if the temperature boils over 40. So it never does. Likewise in winter. [edit] By planeYou can fly to Jinan, however keep in mind that the airport is way out of town.It is located at 40km northeast of downtown. A taxi will take an hour (on a fast road and a freeway) and cost about 100 yuan (just 10 Euros). The driver will usually try to charge you a flat cash fee of 100 yuan or higher, but you should insist on paying according to the fare meter, as that will save you some money. There is one shuttle bus between the airport and downtown that runs hourly from 6 am to 5 pm. It takes just as long and costs 20rmb. A subroute of Bus No. 16 also goes to the airport. You can find flights to most major cities with Shandong Airlines [1] being the major carrier. (Shandong Airlines code-shares with Air China, so your ticket and check-in may well say Air China.) [edit] By trainFor the train, you will likely arrive at the main train station, north of town. Getting a taxi is chaotic and navigating the terminal is difficult so if you can get someone to meet you, it's advisable. Jinan is on the major line from Shanghai to Beijing so you can take the bullet train. It's about 3.5 hours to Beijing and 5 to Shanghai. There's plenty of transport outside the station: the #83 bus stops nearby to take you downtown to more options, the K51 takes you to Quancheng Square and Thousand Buddha Mountain. Several places around the city sell train tickets for an additional 5 yuan, just walk into a travel agency. [edit] By busIt's very easy to get to Jinan (from another city) with lots of buses running all day and some at night. Be sure to ask which station the bus will arrive in as there are two main ones, the long distance bus station (长途汽车站) and the train station bus station (客运汽车站). [edit] By carYou could drive to Jinan, if you are insane and find the major hassles of Driving in China challenging. There are several expressways that are counter intuitive making access frustrating and bewildering even though they are in English. [edit] Get aroundFirst thing you have to consider is, do you really need to take the Bus? Taxis are the easiest options. Other options are various motorcycles, rickshaws, and other vehicles that are either unsigned or a bit flimsy-looking. These are hard to use as you have to negotiate not only the destination, but also the fare. Jinan is just not a tourist city for non-Chinese so traveling within the city can be frustrating. [edit] By busBuses are to be avoided if you are a tourist. They are dangerously overcrowded with people who cough hack and spit at any given chance. Jinan people tend not to wash their hands at all, so if you are crazy enough to squeeze onto a bus (or fancy a dose of the flu), don't forget to bring the hand sanitizer. Still, if you're interested in traveling as the locals do, hop on. Buses are 1 yuan, or 2 yuan for air-conditioned. Buses that begin with K are supposedly air-conditioned and even if the a/c is off or not working, you are likely to get a seat on these buses as they are much less crowded than the 1 yuan (no a/c) buses. Most busses with two digits serve the central city (which is tiny). Three digit ones are either coming from or going to the suburbs (may be very far). Bus stops are easily identifiable and bus numbers are written in the Western numbers both on the busses and at the bus stops. The lists of stops for a given route are posted at every bus stop, but in Chinese only, although the beginning and end stations are written in pinyin. [edit] By taxiTaxis drivers do not speak English, but you can point on a map where you want to go or maybe write it in pinyin ("English" letters.) This will add a least half an hour to your journey, as Jinan Taxi drivers do not understand pinyin or maps. Although that sounds strange most learn the city from when they were young and have never even looked at a map - and as regards pinyin, this system of writing is used by foreigners to learn Chinese (most Chinese have problems understanding it, but after 20 minutes or so can work out a sentence). Now if you can't say your destination in Chinese, this equals saying " I will give you all my money if you drive me in a big circle". Price for most trips ranges from 7.50rmb to what ever they can milk you for. However, if you can speak your destination in Chinese, it can be a pleasant ride and your taxi driver might even try and teach you a few new words, he knows you know what the fare should be so he won't try and rip you off - he'll just try and short change you. Tip - count your change before stepping out. [edit] SeeReally, there is not much to see or do. The city is polluted, the streets are grey and dirty, and the local attractions are not worth the taxi fare. If you are of European or African ethnicity prepare to be stared at and talked about like you have two heads. Stay long enough and you might just grow one, due to the high air pollution and cadmium levels. Jinan was in the top ten most polluted cities in the world in 2004 - ranked number 8. Today, due to politics and not pollution levels the city is no longer on the list. The winters are damp, cold and grey and the summers are hotter than expected often pushing up to a cruel 45 degrees (or more) with 100% humidity. Due to politics again, the weather forecast will tell you it is 38 degrees, when it is really 45 (your thermometer is not broken). This is due to the fact that government and city workers are not required to work on days that reach 40 or higher.
Outside Jinan and to the north there is Hongyegu (Red Leaves Valley). An hour by bus (65, 29, 88) and up in the mountains brings you to this beautiful area which is always in a splendour of color in the fall. Red Leaf valley is a private park which encompasses mountains and lakes of great beauty. However, getting there is next to impossible without being fluent in Mandarin or having a Chinese translator due to the obscure address of the bus service and the weird rule of having to buy your tickets one day in advance. Longdong Cave, under "Longdong Mount" (wherever that is) apparently is also good in Autumn. Jinan has many springs and is in fact famous for them from ancient times. However, up until a few years ago, most visitors were greeted by little more than a gurgle. The local government has put some energy into reducing the amount of water factories use and has been able to restore the city's water table, therefore somewhat returning the springs to their previous grandeur. Jinan has 73 springs.
Other than Springs:
Source: Jinan Municipal Traffic Tourist Map
Source: JinanLive website. [edit] DoOn Sunday there's an "English Corner" along the river. There's a specific location, but it doesn't really matter. If you wander along the river, grab an ice cream and sit down you'll soon be joined by people wanting to practice English... That is, if you like to be pestered by speakers of chinglish. Otherwise ignore Sunday mornings in this area like the plague. There's a huge bookshop, with a mediocore foreign languages section (mostly old classic novels and dictionaries), just east of Maccas on the main drag (Quancheng Road). The management seem to tolerate the thousands of non-customers, using it as a reading room. It is well worth a visit - Borders could learn a thing or two! At night in Quancheng Square or "Spring City Square" (the main square), you can watch kids compete in in-line skating, kung fu, or other competitions. Lots of people hang out there so prepeare to be stared at, as Jinan residents don't often see foreigners. If you are not comfortable to be the center of attention maybe it's best to avoid this spot. Daming Lake is good for a stroll or you can ride the rides there. It's an oasis away from the traffic, right in the middle of the city and charges about 30 yuan to get in. Go early to avoid the crowds. Pleasure boats. Some good photography. Usually a wedding or two. And a nice dumpling restaurant outside opposite the main gate. You can climb Hero Mountain or wander the botanical gardens in the SE. On weekends it's overcrowded so choose a weekday. The campuses of Shandong University, Shandong Medical University, and Shandong Normal University are leafy, serene, and pleasant to stroll. This is of course by Chinese standards as they are not really leafy and pleasant at all, but more grey, dirty, solemn and sparse of foliage. Of the three, the Medical University is the nicest with some mildly interesting architecture - again, avoid the weekends. [edit] BuyJinan isn't a tourist city so the prices seem always inflated for foreigners, but there isn't a whole lot you might want to buy in this second tier city. There's a Wal-Mart Supercenter (just east of the bookshop) next to the Pizza Hut on Quancheng Rd, a Carrefour - north of Jiefan Lu on Lishan Lu, and a number of RT Marts which have daily supplies, food, clothing, and stuff like that. There is little in the way of western food (eg cheese) but you may be pleasantly surprised. Unimart next to Jenny's Cafe caters for the culturally deprived expat who wants his cornflakes. There are markets in several locations, but you're likely only to find plastic tubs, brooms, hair products, bed sheets, clothing, etc., that's pretty much the same as what you find in the shops or just on the street at about the same prices. However, if you are of European decent, be prepared to be charged ridiculous prices due to the belief that you are white and therefore rich. Which comparatively we may well be, of course. In the SE of the city there's a culture market but it's mostly paintings with little culture.
[edit] EatFirst off the WHO insists that you should not be eating street food if you have not had your Typhoid and Hepatitis shots. Not so much a problem in developed cities in China but lets face it, this is Jinan. Now if you've had those shots it can be something of a challenge is you don't speak or read Chinese. Don't expect the Chinese takeaways you might get back home, the constituents and quality are vastly different; indeed, sometimes downright disappointing - ie unless you know he secrets of where to go, you can usually get better "Chinese food" back home! Dining is always better in groups, as plates are invariably "double-dipped" - ie shared by all hence the Hep and the typhoid. There is a great rush between 6pm and about 8pm, after which time everyone seems to disappear. There are the usual mediocre international fast food chains, plenty of street food, scores of little restaurants, etc. Shandong cuisine may not appeal to some as most of the dishes are very oily. The easiest is either street food or one of the many buffets where you can see the food and order that way. Or if you want expensive and exotic (eg Japanese, go to the 4-5 star hotels). There are some nice local restaurants, but if you can't read Chinese it is not worth the hassle and the free entertainment you provide to onlookers. Each restaurant seems to specialise in a style of cooking and a special dish or two. However, finding what you might like can be quite a challenge. Half way down Heping Lu is a good roast duck restaurant (Quanjude). There is a dingy-looking restaurant street (name?) just off of Quancheng Lu that snakes for about 2 blocks. Despite the narrow and pitted road, there are some nice restaurants here. Behind the big mosque at Yongchang Lu is the muslim quarter of town where you'll find tons of bbq places and beer. The food is fresh, as earlier in the day sheep where standing where you are now eating (look for the red stain on the ground). You can't get fresher than that. However, the smell is off putting in the summer. There is a great Pakistani restaurant in the Muslim quarter which foreigners seem to frequent. Jing Er Lu in the NW of the city is a night market with sidestreets full of food. [edit] DrinkNot much choice in Jinan, due to the tiny population of native English speakers residing in Jinan. Statistics from the PSB state, that as of January 2008 the highest foreign population is Korean, standing at just over 4000. Bottom of the list is native English speakers at 71. Canadian 28... American 25... English 7... New Zealander 5... Australian 8... Ireland 4... However, their are also many non native english speaking Europeans (from Eastern Europe) and quite a few Russians.
Otherwise, the street is full of drinking places a la Chinese - impossibly low tables and chairs spill out all over the street and dish up skewers of meats for a few cents along with a few other things like soybeans or such. Beer flows freely but due to racism you may be refused a seat. Don't be put off when they tell you there is no beer, just move on to the next spot as there is many. [edit] SleepThere are plenty of places to choose from in the 200 yuan range, with many bookable online at your favorite online travel agency. Usually the rates quoted at the online travel agencies are better than posted rates at the hotels themselves. Walk-up rates should be about the same as an online travel agency, maybe a few yuan up or down. There's a Crowne Plaza on the nicest street in town and there's a complex of fancy hotels in the swank SE of the city at the end of Lishan Lu. Those are all surprisingly affordable for what they are, especially those in the SE, considering they've got beautiful grounds, five star services and facilities, etc., for maybe $70-80. The SE is the nicest area of town to stay, although downtown is not a bad option. There are also hotels at the transport nexus at the train station, but that's a little removed from the sites. [edit] Get out
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