Dezhou

Dezhou 德州
—  Prefecture-level city  —
德州市
Country	China
Province	Shandong
County-level divisions	11
Township-level divisions
City seat	Decheng District (37°26′N 116°16′E)
Government
• CPC Secretary	Lei Jianguo (雷建国)
• Mayor	Wu Cuiyun (吴翠云)
Area
• Total	10,356 km2 (3,998.5 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	5,586,200
• Density	539.4/km2 (1,397.1/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s)	534
GDP
GDP per capita
License Plate Prefix	鲁N
Website	http://www.dz.gov.cn/

Dezhou (Chinese: 德州; pinyin: Dézhōu) is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Liaocheng to the southwest, Binzhou to the northeast, and the province of Hebei to the north.

Administration

See also: Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China

The municipality of Dezhou comprises thirteen county-level sub divisions:

Districts of the city of Dezhou

• Decheng District (德城区). The government of the prefecture-level city is located in this sub division.
• Dezhou Economic Development District (德州经济开发区)
• Dezhou Yunhe Economic Development District (德州运河经济开发区)

Cities

Cities (县级市 xianji shi) administered by Dezhou are:

• Leling (乐陵市)
• Yucheng (禹城市)

Counties

Counties (县 xian) administered by Dezhou are:

• Lingxian (陵县)
• Pingyuan (平原县)
• Xiajin (夏津县)
• Wucheng (武城县)
• Qihe (齐河县)
• Linyi (临邑县)
• Ningjin (宁津县)
• Qingyun (庆云县)

Transport

Dezhou lies on the main rail route from Beijing to Shanghai,which is known as Jinghu Railway. Dezhou has always been an important transport hub since ancient times(especially after Ming Dynasty), when its reputation of "Junction of Nine Arteries"(九达天衢）and "Portal of Capital City"(神京门户）gradually developed. Except for the two railways(the other is Shide Railway leading to Shijiazhuang), National Highway 104, NH105 and a few provincial roads cross the city as well. The Yellow River and the Grand Canal (China) run through it.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in the People's Republic of China

Dezhou's biggest historical attraction is the tomb of Sultan Paduka Pahala of Sulu (Philippines), who died in Dezhou on his return journey from a visit to the Yongle Emperor in 1417. The tomb is well preserved and has been declared a national heritage site. Descendants of the sultan's Muslim followers still live in Dezhou today, and are classified as the Hui minority.

One of Dezhou's county Lingxian used to be a big county in China in history, when it was called Pingyuan County. Now part of the ancient city wall of Tang Dynasty still exists in the south of the region. Before the Three Kingdoms formed, one of the three emperors Liu Bei used to be the chief of the county, together with his fellows Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In addition, it is the hometown of Dong Fangshuo (东方朔), the most well-known adviser of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty; during Tang Dynasty, an important figure of Chinese calligraphy, Yan Zhenqing, administrated this area. Today, memorial hall for the two historic figures is built in People's Park of Lingxian, where a lot of materials of Dong Fangshuo and stone inscriptions of Yan Zhenqing are reserved.

For tourism resources, there's also a famous temple in Qingyun County. It's called Haidao Jinshan Temple, which is believed to be one of the biggest centers of Buddhism in Northern China. The most attractive scene is the underground aisle where the sight of hell is portrayed by using high technology.

Industry

A new industrial zone hailed as the "Solar Valley" is being built for experimenting with clean- energy urban projects and massive use of household utilities such as solar-powered water-heaters. The Washington Post describes Dezhou's Solar Valley as the "clean-tech version of Silicon Valley".

Nowadays one of the biggest and most famous industries in Dezhou is solar energy industry, with two main corporations included-- Himin Group (皇明集团) and its partner Ecco Solar Group(亿家能集团). Dezhou increased its international reputation when it was selected to follow previous hosts, Daegu, South Korea (2004), Oxford, UK (2006) and Adelaide, Australia (2008) as host of the 2010 International Solar City Congress. Himin Group has developed into the world's largest solar water heater manufacturer and is also discovering new areas such as photoelectricity.

Greenpeace China cited Dezhou in May 2009 as an example of how renewable energy can become a more common reality throughout the world.

Dezhou also houses the world's largest solar-powered office building, covering around 75,000 square meters.

Education

Dezhou University is a comprehensive University which was approved by the National Education Committee in March 2000. It is the aggregation of Dezhou Teachers’ College, Dezhou Education College and Evening College Municipality, which has a 30 year history.

Miscellaneous

• Dezhou is well-known for its braised chicken and watermelon.
• The name of Dezhou is the same as the abbreviation of the Chinese name for the state of Texas, USA.
• Pingyuan, Dezhou is the foundation place of Yihetuan (Boxer Rebellion) against the Eight Power Allied Force during 1900s.

External links

• 德州鲁北热线
• 陵县旅游
• Dezhou
• Himin Group
• Dezhou University
• Government website of Dezhou (in Simplified Chinese)