JINAN. as the capital city of Shandong Province, is the province’s political, economic and cultural center. It has a total area of 8,227 sq km and a population of 5.49 million, including 2.54 million urban people. It is located in the mid-western part of Shandong Province. Nearby to the south is the famous Mount Tai, officially recognized by the United Nations as part of the world’s natural and cultural heritage and Qufu, the home of Confucius, To the north is the Yellow River, which is called the "cradle of the Chinese nation." JINAN is known as "City of Springs". 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. The most well-known places of interests in Jinan are Bao Tu Spring Park, Daming Lake, Qianfo Hill (Thousand Buddha hill), and Lingyan Temple     As the center of transportation of Shandong Province, Jinan is at the juncture of the Beijing-Shanghai and Qingdao-Jinan railways. Trains coming from the major cities in China can directly reach Jinan. Jinan Airport, about half hour’s drive from the city, operates more than 30 regular flights to Seoul, Hongkong, Beijing, Harbin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Haikou, etc.       With a warm-temperate continental monsoon climate and clear-cut seasonal changes, Jinan has an average annual temperature of 14°C. But the lowest temperature in winter can sometimes drop to around -10 °C. and the highest temperature in summer can reach over 38 °C