History of Shandong

A Neolithic culture—known as the Longshan because of archaeological remains discovered near the township of that name—existed on the Shandong Peninsula in the 3rd millennium bce. It played a key role in the establishment of a common rice-based cultural grouping that apparently spread along the Pacific seaboard from the peninsula to Taiwan and to the area that is now eastern Guangdong province.

Western Shandong formed part of the territory of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 bce). By the Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu) period (770–476 bce) it had become the centre of political and military activity that resulted from the eastward expansion of the Zhou dynasty, following their conquest of the Shang. A small state in southwestern Shandong was Lu, the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius. Also in the “Eastern Territory”—an early name for Shandong—was Qi, extending over the major part of the peninsula; it became an important economic centre, exporting hemp clothing, silk, fish, salt, and a unique variety of purple cloth to all parts of China. Beginning in the Six Dynasties period (220–589 ce), Shandong became North China’s leading maritime centre, receiving commodities from the South China coastal area (now Fujian and Guangdong provinces) for transshipment to destinations north and south of the Huang He. Thus, Shandong has been an integral part of China from its very beginning as an organized state.

In 1293 the Grand Canal, running generally north to south, was completed, making western Shandong a major inland trading route. Yet even after completion of the canal, maritime trade remained important to Shandong, and the peninsula retained its dominant economic position. In the great agricultural areas of the province, however, early deforestation and the long-established practice of clearing land for cultivation without providing for flood prevention and control measures led to serious and ultimately disastrous erosion and wastage of valuable agricultural land.

In the 19th century these problems were worsened by shifts in the course of the Huang He. From 1194 until the early 1850s, the Huang He followed the original bed of the Huai River along the Shandong-Jiangsu border before emptying into the Yellow Sea. After 1855, when a series of devastating floods was followed by extensive dike construction, the river changed to its present course some 250 miles (400 km) to the north. Hardships and food shortages from floods and other natural calamities increased in intensity throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This resulted in a substantial emigration of Shandong peasants to the Northeast (Manchuria) and to Inner Mongolia and Korea, with more than four million people emigrating between 1923 and 1930.

In the closing decade of the 19th century, Shandong came under the influence of German, British, and Japanese interests. It was occupied briefly by Japanese troops after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. In 1897 Germany landed troops, and in 1898 a treaty was signed by which China ceded to Germany, for 99 years, two entries to Jiaozhou Bay and the islands in the bay and granted the right to construct a naval base and port, Qingdao. Germany used Qingdao as a base from which to extend its commercial influence throughout the peninsula; it developed coal mines and constructed a railway (1905) from Qingdao to Jinan. Similarly, in 1898 Great Britain obtained a lease for Weihaiwei (present-day Weihai), another strategic port near the northern tip of the peninsula. This was in response to the Russian occupation of Port Arthur (now the Lüshunkou district of the city of Dalian). With the advent of World War I, Japan took over German interests in the peninsula and in 1915, as one of its infamous Twenty-One Demands, compelled the Chinese to give official recognition to the renewed occupation. Taking up the Shandong question, the imperialist powers decided in 1919 to grant Japanese occupation, which Japan maintained until 1922.

In the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–45, even though the Japanese had gained control of most of Shandong by the end of 1937, they miscalculated Chinese strength and suffered a serious defeat—their first of the war—at Tai’erzhuang, in southern Shandong, in 1938. In the postwar struggle between the Chinese communists and the Nationalists, Shandong came under communist control by the end of 1948.