Infiltrating into a long history, Yantai was called Zhifu in the ancient times. In 200 B.C. the first emperor of China once shot fish here with bows drawn and arrows set, formingafterwards ¡°the fish shooting platform¡±. For fighting against the sea rovers, the Ming Dynasty set up the beacon-fire stand in the year of 1398 and Chinese ¡°Yantai¡± hereby achieved her nomenclature. And Yantai became one of the first ports that opened up to the outside in 1861.

Geographic Position

Yantai, located on the east tip of Shandong Peninsular(36¡ã16¡ä¡ª38¡ã23N, 119¡ã34¡ä¡ª121¡ã67¡äE), bordering on the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Bay, lies to Japan and Korea across the sea. It is one of the 14 coastal cities opening up to the outside world, and plays an important role among the cities along the Bohai Bay economic circle, where the state gives priority to its development. Geographically, Yantai is on hilly land except for the central area, which is mountainous. The plains scattered along the coast covering 23% of its total area. It is crisscrossed by 7 river systems, each with a drainage area of over 300 square kilometers; Yantai has a temperate climate with mild winters and moderate summers. The annual average temperature is about 12.9 degrees centigrade and the average annual rainfall is about 700 millimeters. Over 200 frost-free days can be expected in a year. And it is considered as a well-known summer resort in China.

Administrative Divisions

Yantai governs 4 districts, 1 county, 7 county cities and 1 national level economic & technology development area, 1 national level import & export processing area and 97 towns. The whole area of Yantai is 13,7000 square kilometers and the urban area is 2,436 square kilometers; The total population is 6.485 million and the urban population is 1.614 million.

Economic Situation

In 2002, Yantai¡¯s GDP reaches US$ 111.5 billion; the primary, secondary and tertiary idustry realize added value US$ 13.603 billion, 57.45 billion and 40.447 billion respectively, which is the third among 17 cities of Shandong Province. The proportion of three industies is 12.2 : 51.5 : 36.3. The tertiary industry keeps increasing and achieves thehistorical highest level. The number of individual and private business of the whole city is up to 13.560000 and the tax revenue ( without individual income tax of interest ) reaches RMB£¤1.088 billion. ¡¡¡¡

The social security system has initially formed, which includes endowment insurance, unemployment insurance, medical treatment insurance, industrial injury insurance and birth insurance. Altogether 554,000 enterprise employees have participated in endowment insurance; 120,000 enterprise retirees receive pension on time; the total ammount of insurance premium is RMB£¤1.64 billion, among which endoment insurance is RMB£¤1.05 billion, medical treatment insurance is RMB£¤473 million, unemployment insurance is RMB£¤100 million, birth insurance is RMB£¤14.263 million and industrial injury insurance is RMB£¤4.22 million. ¡¡¡¡

The market price remains stable. Consumption price rises 0.4% than the year of 2000 and drops 0.6% than the same period of last year. Price index of industrial products is 98.8%.

Yantai Tourism

Yantai City lies in the northeastern part of Shandong peninsula, bordering on the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. It is situated at the foot of the hill and beside the sea with beautiful scenery. There are many interesting places which attract thousands of tourists from all over the world, such as the Penglai Pavilion, the stone Tablet Inscriptions of the North Wei Dynasty(386-532) on Mt. Yunfen, Changdao Island-the fairy land on the sea, Horse Raising Isle, National Forest Parks, natural preservation areas, provincial tourist and holiday resorts. The graceful islands, fascinating gulf and blue water with golden sands make Yantai one of the tourist sites and summer resorts in northern China. The simple and honest life style, fresh and opening culture, rich tourist resources and colorful touring activities of Yantai will bring you a new sense of recreation. ¡¡¡¡

¡¡ Yantai Hill: It is the symbol of Yantai City, which is famous for the Smoke Platform(an alarming signal system in ancient times), the lighthouse and the western-style buildings of foreign consulates built before the 1940s.

¡¡ The Golden Beach Park :The Golden Beach Park lies in the north of the development zone and extends along the seashore, featuring bule sea, soft sand , flourishing forests and fresh air. It has grown into a comprehensive park combining swimming, sightseeing, entertaining and delicious food. Blessed with gifts both natural and manmade, the Golden Beach Park welcomes the world.

¡¡ Kunyu Mountain :Kunyu Mountain is located in the eastern end of Jiaodong Peninsular. It lies across Yantai and Weihai. It has good communication facilities and is 50 kilometers away from the railway station, port and airport. As a national forest park and the birthplace of Quan Zhen Tao(Taoism), it is rich in tourist resources. Mountain Kunyu ranges rise and fall, with high and precipitous terrain. With its peaks rising one higher than another, its scenery is very magnificent. It has 72 distinguished peaks of various shapes. The main mountaion is called the " ancestor of wonder mountaions " of the East Sea.The forest coverage of Mountain Kunyu is up to 80%. There are 60 families and 340 species of wood plants, over 600 species of herbaceous plants, and 348 species of ornament flowers. Among them, 14 species are listed in the key plants specially protected by the state. With the beautiful scenery of hills and waters, Mountain Kunyu is the best tourist attraction and summer resort. The development fo Mountain Kunyu has been listed in the general planning of Yantai Urban Tourist Development. At preasant, there are already 5 large scenic spots, such as Taibo Summit, Yanxia Cave, Nine--dragon Pond, Yuegu Hall, Wuran Temple, which attract large number of tourists each year.

¡¡ Mushi Demesene :Mushi Demesne was firstly constructed during the Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty. After one hundred-year? expansion, now it covers an area of 20,000 square meters with over 480 rooms. It refects historic culture, architectural culture and social culture of ancient China. It is the largest yard buildings with residence feature of the north China which is protected well currently. It is also the key culture relic institute protected by the state, and reputed as the history memory of 600-year social cultures and the " civil imperial palace ". The annual culture festival is the most attractive civil activity. The specialist of the international organization made high evaluation on it and proposed to apply for the title of international culture relics. In 2000 defined this project was defined as the preferential development project Shandong Province.

¡¡Dings' Former Domicile :Dings' Former Domicile, located in Longkou City, is the luxurious house of Baiwan Ding, a millionair of Qing Dynasty. The building consists of several large yards and each yard has several ccompound yards. Till now, it is the biggest and best protected "Compound Yard" in China.

¡¡Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone :Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone is situated in Longkou City which is on the coastal line of the Bohai Sea. The zone takes the hotel, recreation palace and international golf course as center and it can meet the need of consumers at all levels. The Nanshan Hotel is the three-star international hotel which has relaxation, meeting and amusenent facilities. Occuping an area of 36,000 square meters, the Nanshan Recreation Palace is the Asian largest recreation center, which is the ideal place for relaxation. The biggest figure of Buddha in the world is also in the Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone, whose height is 28.66 meters and weight is 380 tons. The main scenic spots include Jimu Island, the General Stone, Hu Dahai Square, Sang Island, Yi Island, the Home Village of XuFu, the Former Residence of the Ding Family, Karts Cave of Small Laishan Hill and Nanshan Scenic Area. Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone is a perfect tourist and summer resort.

¡¡Huanghai Recreation Center :Huanghai Recreation Center, situated in the east of Yantaim bordering the gloden beach, covers an area of 24 hectares, among which water area occupies 1000 mu, greenbelt 20 mu, lawn 30 mu and construction area 45,500 square meters. Huanghai Recreation Center was brouhgt in the list of key projects for city construction of the eighth five-year plan in 1992. The construction began on April 20, 1993 and finished on August 8, 1993. With the constant perfection of the auxiliary facilities and the service functioning soundly, Huanghai Recreation Center has become one of the most important scenic spots of Yantai.