Jinan is known as "City of Spring". Underground streams from Mount Tai flow along the limestones strata to Jinan, where they are halted by igneous rocks and spurt out in the form of numerous springs. Of the 72 famous springs here, the Baotu, Pearl, Black Tiger and Fiver-Dragon Pond springs are the best known. The water from all the springs gathers in the north of Jinan City proper, forming Daming Lake, known for its dazzling ripples. To the south of Jinan stands the "Holy Land of Buddhism"-the Thousand Buddha Mountain. The 72 famous springs embraced by the lake unique charms. When Zeng Gong (1019-1083), a prominent man of letters of the Song Dynasty, served as the governor of Qizhou (present-day Jinan), he praised it as "first on earth in the number of springs". Liu E(1857-1909), a novelist of the late Qing Dynasty, described the beautiful scenery of Jinan in detail in The Travels of Lao Can:" Every family drinks spring water and cultivates poplar trees."
In recent years, tourism has become Jinan's new economic growth point. Great efforts have been made to spur the development of tourism resources, and at present, the city has over 30 star-grade hotels for foreign guests, such as the Qilu Hotel, the Shungeng Villa, the Oriental Hotel and the Guidu Hotel. There are also 19 travel agencies. Local tourism include special programs focusing on moral cultivation, health protection, good food, religions, folk customs, calligraphy, etc. The Mount Tai-Daming Lake-Qufu (the birthplace of the ancient sage and eductor Confucius) tourism route is one of the most popular in the country. In 1997, a total of 87,500 foreign visitors, overseas Chinese, and Hong Kong and Macao compatriots visited Jinan, and the income earned from overseas tourists reached 240 million yuan.
Jinan celebrates colorful traditional festivals all the year round, including the Baotu Latern Festival (the 15th of the 1st lunar month) on the Thousand-Buddha Mountain, attracting thousands of visitors from both home and abroad.
Jinan is the place where Shandong cuisine originated. Jinan dishes are known for their fragrance, deliciousness, tenderness and purity. Of the 1,000-odd varieties of Jinan dishes, fried carp with sweet and sour sauce, large Jiuzhuan(nine-twist) sausages, stir-fried chicken cubes with chili sauce and peanuts, Yuji braised chicken, and milk soup with cattail are popular with both the locals and visitors.
Jinan's unique tourism products include donkey-hide gelatin produced by Dong'e Town, Longshan black pottery, Licheng crunchy candy pancakes, Shandong embroideries and Changqing muyu stone household utensils.
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