Located at the eastern tip of Shandong Peninsula, Weihai, a well-known port and tourist city in China, is one of the coastal open cities and the first ational Environmental City in China as well as one of the first ational Model Cities for Environmental Protection. Opposite to its north is Liaodong peninsula. It faces Korean peninsula and Japan across the sea to the east and borders on Yantai and Qingdao on the west.

Weihai covers an area of 5,436 square kilometers with a population of 2.5 million. Weihai has the jurisdiction over three county-level cities of Rongcheng,Wendeng, Rushan and one district of Huancui.

History

About 7,000 years ago, there were inhabitants living in Weihai. In 1398,the Ming Dynasty stationed troops in Weihai, which was called Weihaiwei. In 1898, Weihai became the concession of Britain. In October, 1930, Weihai was regained and Weihaiwei Administrative Division was set up. In 1945,Weihaiwei City was set up which was renamed Weihai City after the establishment of the People Republic of China. In June, 1987, Weihai City was approved to be the prefectural city by the State Council.
 
Climate & Surroundings

At Longitude 120"11'-122"42' and latitude 36"41'-37"35', Weihai exactly lies in the dividing line of the North and the South. The average temperature is 12¡æ,and the average precipitation is over 800 mm. With the four seasons distinctively different, Weihai enjoys an agreeable climate. Backed by the mountain and facing the sea, the urban area is endowed with the charming surroundings .The environmental quality indexes such as atmosphere, water and noise have reached or surpassed the national standards, which makes Weihai an ideal place for tourism, summer resort and recuperation.

Special Resources
 
The coastal line of Weihai is 1,000 kilometers, accounting for 1/3 of that in Shandong. There are 3 large fishing grounds along the coast, which makes Weihai one of the largest fishing production bases in China. More than 300 kinds of aquatic products can be found in Weihai such as prawn, sea cucumber, abalone, shellfish, algae and fishes. There are more than 30 kinds of minerals can be mined such as gold, iron, copper and zinc. The high-quality granite has a large reserve in Weihai, and the granites with the name of hidao Red, wendeng White and rushan Black have enjoyed good fame at home and abroad.

Economy 

Weihai has witnessed a quick development in the past few years in terms of its economy and social undertaking. Listed as one of the 50 economically strong cities in China, the overall strength of Weihai has been prominently increased, and people's living standard has been obviously raised. In 2001,the GNP of Weihai reached RMB62.7 billion yuan.

Industry

Weihai enjoys a good industry foundation. A complete industry system has been set up which consists of the key industries such as machinery, electronics, chemistry, building materials, light industry, textiles and other major industries such as plastics, silk, medicine, foodstuff and arts & crafts. More than 2,000 kinds of products are manufactured in Weihai, over 700 kinds of which have been exported to the international market. Weihai is the largest production base of carpet, fishing rod, mini-sized woodworking machine, the second largest production base of tire and the main production base of agricultural truck, automobiles, connecting rod and concentrated juice. The products such as bias tire, SPC exchanges, electronic telephone, high-speed fax machine, floppy disk, monitor, high-energy storage battery, energy-saving lamp and marine biological medicine have been the newly developed leading products.

Agriculture
 
Weihai is an important base of commodity grain and a key production area of peanuts, fruits and aquatic products in Shandong. In 2001,the total output of grain, peanuts and fruits was 939.2 thousand tons, 235.7 thousand tons and 525.8 thousand tons respectively. The output of aquatic products was 2.3714 million tons, which ranks first in the cities at the same administrative level in China.

Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation

Weihai is one of the earliest port cities open for the foreign trade in China . More than 100 countries and regions have set up stable relationship with Weihai in terms of foreign trade and economic cooperation. In 2001,the import and the export volume was US$2.39 billion, and the export volume was US$1.61 billion with the products covering 15 kinds and 500 specifications.

The foreign investment has quickly developed. By the end of 2001, 2,732 foreign-funded enterprises have been approved in Weihai. The contractual foreign investment reached US$3.74 billion, and the foreign investment in use reached US$2.13 billion. The investors are from over 49 countries and regions such as Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, USA, EU, and many world famous transnational companies have invested in Weihai.

Tourism

Weihai is abundant in tourism resources. There are mountains, sea, islands, beaches, springs, forests, places of historical interest and signs of modern civilization as well. Now it enjoys great prestige both at home and abroad. There are over 80 scenic spots, of which more than 20 have been exploited. Among them, Liugongdao Island and Chengshantou belong to national Beauty Spots and Chashan Hill, Shengshuiguan and Sacred Classics Hill are of provincial level. There are four provincial tourism resorts: Huancui, Silver Beach, Shidao Bay and Swan Lake.

Wei hai is well-known as a famous scenic spot and summer resort.There are two famous mountains in Weihai--One is Kunyu mountain, located in Wendeng, which is well known by Wangchongyang, a Taoist priest of Jing Dyneesty. Who once created "Taoism true branch" there, today there're still have the chaoyang cavern, moon tone and other historic sites. Another mountain is tiechashan, located in Rongcheng, nine mountains,link together; beautiful and grand. The Taoist priest of Wangchuyi, one of Wangchongyang's seven students, created "Kunshan Pai".

There are many famous scenic spot and tourism spot in Weihai--Chengshantou, Which is called "The end of sky", famous known by the first Emperor of Qinshihuang of Qing dynasty, it was said who once order 200 little boys and girls from here to Japan for the long-living medicine.
Rongcheng swan lake which is the biggest swan paradise in northern China. Every winter, thousands of thousands swans collect here which become a grand view.
 
Liugong island, is the first navel base of China Beiyang navy base of Qing Dynasty. Today there are still exist jiawll bottle museum, Beiyang Navy office and other historic sites.

The Circle-Green park, Rushan silver sealand, Shidao bay, all are well known by their special styles in Weihai.
 
Weihai explored many special tourism spot and tourism products recent years, which obsort friends both inside and outside me to travel and invest. Rongcheng International fishingmen's festival is a important and splendid festival to Chinese, Japanese and South Korean fishingmen.

Liugong island

Located in the Weihai bay,20 minutes from the travel dock by boat, Liugong island, also called "the unsinkable batle ship",is surrounded by the weihai bay and the yellow river. worth mentioning is the 2700 mu's vegetation on the island, especially the pine trees.

Chengshantou

Looked upon as the "ancient Cape of Good Hope",Chengshantou lies in the east of Jiaodong peninsula. It is an area boasts of evergreen riges,deep blue sea,cliffy krantzs and onrushing billows,taking you into the natural environment of the oriental city.

Mt. Shengjing

Shenjing Mountain scenic spot is located in the northwest area of Gejia Town, Wendeng City, 20 km away from downtown. The stretching peaks, green pines covered mountain, plain contiguous with Yellow Sea and Gaoshan Lake are like a ring winding around the mountains, forming a beautiful landscape.

It is a continental climate of temperate zone. With an annual average temperature at 11.3¡æ and clear seasons and no tough winter or summer,it is an ideal place for tourism and summer vacations.

As the cradle of Quanzhen branch of Taoism, Shengjing Mountain is also famous for its rich religion culture. According to the record in historic books a lot of temples and nunneries were founded here in Tang and Han Dynasties. And in Jin Dynasty, a Taoist priest named Wang Chongyang came from Xianyang of Shanxi and sermonized in Shengjing Mountain, creating "Quanzhenism".One of his seven disciples¡ªQiou Chuji,was awarded by Chengjisihan and appointed to be in charge of national Taoism, which became the State's religion.

The main peak of Shengjing Mountain has an attitude of 385 m. On mountaintop stands a giant stone 15.6m long, 6 m high with Taoist lection carved on it, about 5 thousands words, 146 lines, 10 cm long for each word. Many other Taoism relics such as Huenyuan Hall, Sanqing Hall, Sanguan Hall, Zhongxian Tomb, Chaoyang Cave, Liaojun Temple, Longwang Temple, Shanshen Temple, Donghua Palace, Donghua Cave, Yuhuang Pavilion, Tianmen, Woxian Stone are well preserved here.

Every year, from May.20 to 22, a mountain festival is held here with folk art performances, calligraphy and stone inscription culture, economy and trade negotiation activities,attracting a lot of guests from Japan, South Korea, Hongkong Taiwan and Canada.

Villa groups with medium and high-class guestrooms of multifunctional service are capable to cater over 200 people, service including dining hall, shopping, recreation and meeting rooms.

With Shangze and Xilin roads to its east, 309 State highway in its south and the first-class special bus line of Weihai¡ªQingdao,Shengjing Mountain is easily accessible. The best seasons is from May to October.
The folk-custom activity¡ªfarmers' banquet (wild food) is enjoyable.

Swan Lake

In Rongcheng Swan Lake tourism holiday resort, there is the world's largest swans habitat¡ªCheng Shanwei Swan Lake which has clean water, gold beach and blue sky with delightful climate.

Every year, from November to April, thousands of swans, wild ducks and wild goose from Siberia and Nei Mongu come to spend the winter. It is well named as the Eastern Kingdom of Swans. A sand dam of 100 m wide isolates the lake and sea, forming thousands of sea and sand bathing places.

The sea recreation company, large casino and horse race grounds have been built, which makes a modern holiday resort combining tourism, relaxing, vacation and recreation.

According to the legend, the tears of the first emperor's wife of Qin Dynasty made the Swan Lake; the swan was the embodiment of the wife's soul. A long time ago, in order to seek immortal medicine of long life, Qin emperor recruited workmen to fill the sea and build a bridge, and ordered his wife to send meals when hearing the sound of gonging. One day, it was still early to send meals. However, due to the ramping of dung beetles, the gong sounded, the wife hurried to send meals. The emperor saw that his wife violated his order and was very angry, so he killed his wife. She felt injustice; her tears collected a river called Tears Lake. People could not forget her and wanted to bring her pure soul to the world. Therefore, countless big swans fell to the ground from sky.

With completed facilities, 8 high-class hotels and restaurants are built in this area. There are 88 cultural recreation places, high grade bars, steam bathing center and bowling room, a water treatment company with daily water supply of 10,000 cubic meter, a transformer station of 110,000 volt, 20,000 gates of program-controlled telephones which can directly link with other places of China and foreign countries. In addition, mobile communication and wireless calls are already in service.

It is easy to get to this area which is the center of the northeast part of Rongcheng City, 28 km from Weihai Airport, 26 km from Weihai New Port, 28 km from Weihai Railway Station. In summer, tourists come here to escape hot summers and enjoy seafood, have sea bathing and watch sea ; in winter, see swans and snow.

This area has a lot of local special products, such as sea cucumbers, scallops, peanuts, apples.