Historical and cultural factors
The Jinan area has a history of more than 4,000 years and is the birthplace of the Longshan culture. The current urban area based on the former Lixing County also has a history of more than 2,600 years of urbanization. Culturally, it is the junction of the Qi culture based on the axes of Weifang, Qingzhou, Linzi and Zhoucun and the Lu culture based on the axes of Qufu and Taishan, with some characteristics of the Qi and Lu cultures. Although Jinan was historically part of the Qi territory, it was influenced by the feudal society of China and favored the Lu culture. At the same time, in ancient times, Jinan was also the junction of the Longshan and Dawenkou cultures. In modern times, the area around the Daming Lake and the Grand View Garden in Jinan became the birthplace of Shandong opera, and together with Beijing and Tianjin, it became the three major towns of opera in northern China, known as the Sea of Qu Mountain and Art. Although the Shandong Opera and Lv Opera were not produced in Jinan, they were both promoted to the whole country based on the platform of Jinan.
Geographic and Transportation Factors
Jinan is close to the center of Shandong Province, and is reasonably close to all regions, so there is no question of the distances being too great, and all regions can be easily reached in a relatively short time. This is very advantageous in the province's coordinated scheduling, centralized meetings, research trips, educational consulting, disaster relief, medical assistance, emergency response, and so on. But why Shandong Province will not be closer to the center of Linzi and Qingzhou? Because, human civilization is mostly distributed in the plains, and large towns and cities are also distributed in the plains. Geographically, the central Shandong mountains and the Yellow River (the ancient Jishui and Daqing River) divide the plains of Shandong into three major parts: the mountainous impact plains, the yellow flood plains, and the southwestern low-hill plains. The pre-mountain impact plains include Zibo and Weifang, which lead to the Jiaodong Peninsula; the Yellow Pan Plain is part of the North China Plain, including Dezhou, Liaocheng and Binzhou, which lead northward to Beijing and Shanhaiguan, and westward to the Taihang Mountainous Region; and the Southwest Lu Low Hills Plain is part of the Huaihai Plain, which includes Jining, Tai'an and Heze, which lead westward to the Central Plains, and southward to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Most of the cities and towns in Shandong Province are concentrated on these three plains and are geographically delimited by them. Jinan is in the western part of the Luzhong Mountain Front Impact Plain, which is the transition zone of these three plains, and is also the cross-linking point of these three plains, thus becoming the transportation hub for the towns and cities in the three plains. In addition to a few areas with low hills, Jinan is basically a plain with unobstructed traffic to the east. In terms of transportation in the north-south direction, Jinan has a number of bridges across the Yellow River (historically the Yellow River, Jishui or Daqing River crossings), enabling it to easily traverse areas of the North China Plain such as Dezhou and Liaocheng to reach Beijing and Shanhaiguan, as well as parts of Shanxi. At the same time, through the southwestern Jinan Changqing region of the valley plain can gently through the mountainous areas of central Shandong, and its mountainous routes smaller slope, shorter distance, less curved, and through the mountainous areas of the line, straight to the south immediately to Jining, Xuzhou as the center of the Huaihai Plain, which leads to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, or the Central Plains. This is Linzi and Qingzhou does not have the advantage of transportation. Therefore, in history, Jinan has become one of the important transportation nodes between Jiangsu, Zhejiang, the land of fish and rice and Beijing. In modern times, due to the construction of the Jinpu Railway here, the line replaced the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal as the most important transportation route from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Beijing. Historically there was also the Xiaoqing River for salt transportation, which was one of the important factors that made Jinan the birthplace of Lu cuisine. At the same time, Jinan itself is not in a major seismic zone, relatively speaking, the possibility of being subjected to major seismic disasters is relatively low, which is one of the relevant references that can ensure that Jinan becomes the capital city of the province.
Economic Factors
In the era of agricultural civilization, Jinan is located in the central Luzhong mountainous impact plain, similar to the basin terrain, water resources are easy to pool, the land is fertile, to ensure the development of agriculture. Along the Xiaoqing River in the north to form one of the few large wetland paddy fields in the north of the river (Wu Jiapu - Beiyuan - Huashan - Yaowei - Baiyun Lake until the Zouping junction area). North China is arid, and during the period of agricultural civilization, this geographical condition was relatively easy to resist drought. At the same time, the topography of Jinan is high in the south and low in the north, which can weaken the tendency of the Yellow River water to swing towards the urban area of Jinan, so that the threat of Yellow River flooding to the center of Jinan city is reduced. In addition, the diverse topography of mountains, plains, rivers, wetlands and lakes has made Jinan a diverse and rich area, which is one of the fundamental reasons why Jinan has become one of the birthplaces of Lu cuisine. In modern times, modern commerce and industry were gradually developed along the Jiaoji and Beijing-Shanghai railroads, making Jinan the first city in China to open its own commercial port. In modern times, through the construction of railroads and highways, it is easy to reach all cities in the country, and has become one of the important logistics centers in China. At the same time, relying on the concentration of universities and the advantages of rich cultural heritage to form a high-tech industry represented by the Qilu Software Park.
Military Factors
Jinan is surrounded by hills on two sides and rivers on both sides, and the valley plains of the mountainous areas and the ferries (bridges) are the gateways, forming a terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The city's many north-south river distribution plus the Yellow River (Jishui, Daqing River), Xiaoqing River, Daming Lake and some scattered hills form layers of military barriers, relying on the city's rivers and the construction of the moat and the city wall (Note: the wall has been dismantled), and more strengthened Jinan's military defense capabilities. In addition to these mountains and rivers through Jinan, but also to the plains of the terrain, basically no danger to defend. This terrain made it relatively easy to exercise military control over the surrounding area. At the same time, Jinan is not coastal and is not easily attacked by the sea. Until modern times, this terrain has also played a great role in the military. Jinan's importance as a military town was emphasized during the historical process of the Jingnian Revolution, the Northern Expeditionary War (Jinan 5.3 Tragedy) and the War of Liberation (Jinan Battle).