Yantai
Yantai, formerly known by the Europeans as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the southwest and Weihai on the east, with sea access to both the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. It is the largest fishing seaport in Shandong. Its population was 7,102,116 during the 2020 census, of whom 3,184,299 lived in the built-up area made up of the 5 urban districts of Zhifu, Laishan, Fushan, Muping, and Penglai.
Names
The name Yantai derives from the watchtowers constructed on in 1398 by locals. The towers were used to light signal fires and send smoke signals, called langyan from their supposed use of wolf dung for fuel. At the time, the area was troubled by the Japanese pirates, initially raiders from the warring states in Japan but later principally disaffected Chinese. It was also formerly romanized as Yen-tai.The major district of Yantai is Zhifu, which used to be the largest independent city in the area. It was romanized by the Europeans as Chefoo, Che-foo, Chi-fu, and Chih-fou. Although this name was used for the city by the Europeans prior to the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the locals referred to the settlement as Yantai throughout.
History
Early history
During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the region was inhabited by indigenous people vaguely known to the Chinese as the "Eastern Barbarians". Under the Zhou, they were colonized and sinicized as the state of Lai. Lai was annexed by Qi inUnder the First Emperor, the area was administered as the Qi Commandery. In 218 BCE, during his eastern inspection tour, Emperor Qin Shi Huang visited Zhifu Island, leaving behind the Zhifu Stone Inscription and establishing the Eastern Inspection Palace. The stone inscription later fell into the sea and was lost, though 14 characters survive today through ink rubbings. The Eastern Inspection Palace was demolished in 1966 during Cultural Revolution. Under the Han, this was renamed as the Donglai Commandery. Following the Three Kingdoms period, the area was organized by the Jin as the Donglai Kingdom or Principality, later returning to prefecture status as a jùn and then zhōu. Under the Tang and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was known as Deng Prefecture and organized with the Henan Circuit. It was then organized as the Laizhou and then, under the Qing, Dengzhou Prefecture.
Up to the 19th century, however, the Zhifu area consisted of nothing but small unwalled fishing villages of little importance. Under the Ming, these were first troubled by the Wokou and then by the overreacting "Sea Ban", which required coastal Chinese to give up trading and most fishing and relocate inland upon pain of death.
Opening as a port
Following the Second Opium War, the Qing Empire was obliged to open more treaty ports by the unequal 1858 Treaty of Tianjin, including Tengchow. Its port being found inadequate, Zhifu—about away—was selected to act as the seat of the area's foreign commerce. The mooring was at considerable distance from shore, necessitating more time and expense in loading and unloading, but the harbor was deep and expansive and business grew rapidly. The harbor opened in May 1861, with its status as an international port affirmed on 22 August. The official decree was accompanied by the construction of the Donghai Customs House. It quickly became the residence of a circuit intendant, customs house, and a considerable foreign settlement located between the old native town and the harbor. Britain and sixteen other nations established consulates in the town. The town was initially expanded with well-laid streets and well-built stone houses, even for the poorer classes, a Catholic and a Protestant church were erected, and a large hotel did business with foreigners who employed the town as a summer resort.The principal traders were the British and Americans, followed by the Germans and Thais. In the 1870s, the principal imports were woolen and cotton goods, iron, and opium and the principal exports were tofu, soybean oil, peas, coarse vermicelli, vegetables, and dried fruit from Zhifu itself, raw silk and straw braid from Laizhou, and walnuts from Qingzhou. The town also traded Chinese liquors and sundries for the edible seaweed grown in the shallows of the Russian settlements around Port Arthur. In 1875, the murder of the British diplomat Augustus Margary in Tengchong, Yunnan, led to a diplomatic crisis that was resolved in Zhifu by Thomas Wade and Li Hongzhang the next year. The resultant Chefoo Convention gave British subjects extraterritoriality throughout China and exempted the foreign merchants' enclaves from the likin tax on internal commerce. Its healthy situation and good anchorage made it a favorite coaling station for foreign fleets, giving it some importance in the conflicts over Korea, Port Arthur, and Weihaiwei.
Award-winning Chefoo bobbin lace was produced following the introduction of the craft by British missionaries, reportedly becoming a popular export. Chefoo lace was exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Yantai received German economic activities and investments for about 20 years. In the run-up to the First World War, its trade continued to grow but was limited by the poor roads of the area's hinterland and the necessity of using pack animals for portage. The trade items remained largely the same as before. After the Germans were defeated by Allied forces in World War I, Qingdao and Yantai were occupied by the Japanese, who turned Yantai into a summer station for their Asian fleet. They also set up a trading establishment in the town. The different foreign influences that shaped this city are explored at the Yantai Museum, which used to be a guild hall. However, the city's colourful history has not left a distinctive architectural mark, there has never been a foreign concession, and though there are a few grand 19th-century European buildings, most of the town is of much more recent origin. After 1949, the town's name was changed from Chefoo to Yantai, and it was opened to the world as an ice-free trade port in 1984.
ROC era
On 12 November 1911, the eastern division of Tongmeng Hui declared itself a part of the revolutionary movement. The next day, it established the Shandong Military Government and, the day after that, renamed itself the Yantai Division of the Shandong Military Government. In 1914, Jiaodong Circuit was established with Yantai as the capital. Jiaodong Circuit was renamed Donghai Circuit in 1925.In 1935, the Xu Minge Incident sparked large-scale student demonstrations in Yantai, and on November 29 of the same year, the Jiaodong CCP Special Committee launched the November 4th Uprising, which was subsequently suppressed. On February 3, 1938, Yantai was occupied by the Japanese army, marking the city’s first official designation as an urban administrative unit. On 19 January 1938, Yantai participated as part of an anti-Japanese revolutionary committee.
After Japan’s surrender, the Eighth Route Army took control of Yantai on August 24, 1945, and the Jiaodong Administrative District was established. That same autumn, the Nationalist Government created the provincially administered City of Yantai and appointed Bai Shupu as acting mayor, while in February of the following year, the Communist authorities formed a separate Yantai municipal unit using parts of Fushan and Muping counties. Beginning in September 1947, a series of military engagements between Nationalist and Communist forces erupted across the Jiaodong Peninsula—known historically as the Jiaodong Campaign—and on October 1, the National Revolutionary Army occupied Yantai, with Ding Futing assuming office as mayor. Ultimately, on October 15, 1948, the People's Liberation Army retook Yantai, returning it to the jurisdiction of the Jiaodong Administrative District.
Modern history
After the creation of the People's Republic of China, Yantai was officially awarded city status with the outlying towns of Laiyang and Wendeng tacked on as "Special Regions" in 1950. Wendeng was merged into Laiyang six years later, and this larger Laiyang Special Region was combined with Yantai City to become Yantai Prefecture. Yantai is of strategic importance to China's defense, as it and Dalian, directly across the Bohai Sea from it, are primary coastal guard points for Beijing. In November 1983, the prefecture became a prefecture-level city.Geography
Yantai is located along the north coast of the Shandong Peninsula, south of the junction of Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea and parallel to the southern coast of Liaoning. The topographical breakdown consists of:- 36.62% mountainous
- 39.7% hilly
- 50.23% plain
- 2.90% basin
The summits in the hill country vary from ; the average peak in the mountainous region is, and the highest point of elevation is the summit of Mount Kunyu at.
There are 121 rivers over in length, the largest being:
- Wulong River
- Dagu River
- Dagujia River
- Wang River
- Jie River
- Huangshui River
- Xin'an River
Climate
Yantai has a monsoon-influenced climate which under the Köppen climate classification, Yantai falls within either a hot-summer humid continental climate if the isotherm is used or a humid subtropical climate if the isotherm is used. Summers are hot, humid, and rainy while winters are cold and dry. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from to.Administration
The prefecture-level city of Yantai administers 12 county-level divisions, including 5 districts, 6 county-level cities, and one development zone.| District | Local name | City | Local name |
| Zhifu District | 芝罘区 | Laiyang City | 莱阳市 |
| Fushan District | 福山区 | Laizhou City | 莱州市 |
| Muping District | 牟平区 | Zhaoyuan City | 招远市 |
| Laishan District | 莱山区 | Qixia City | 栖霞市 |
| Penglai District | 蓬莱区 | Haiyang City | 海阳市 |
| Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone | 烟台经济技术开发区 | Longkou City | 龙口市 |
| Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone | 烟台高新技术产业开发区 |
These are further divided into 148 township-level divisions, including 94 towns, six townships, and 48 subdistricts.
| Map |