Tourism resources of Linyi have distinctive local features. The number of tourist area of grade A has reached 8 and of grade 3A has reached 11. As the second highest peak in Shandong Province, the main peak of Mengshan Mountain rises to a height of 1,156 m above sea-level and Mengshan Mountain has earned the name of “natural oxygen bar”, “mountain resort of longevity” and “the second Mount Tai”. The entire scenic spot is of grade 4A. The outline of Tianfo Mountain extending for 3,800 m in Junan County is like the figure of Buddha and thus regarded as wonder of the world. Hailed as “the top gorge of drift in Underground River”, the underground grand gorge extends for 6,100 m in Yishui Country. Xiaobudong Rubber Dam on Yi River, with a total length of 1,247 m, is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest rubber dam in the whole world. A batch of places of historic interest and scenic spots in Linyi enjoys great reputation in the whole province or even the whole country, for instance, Yinqueshan Museum of Bamboo Slips from Han Tombs, the Former Residence of Wang Xizhi, Memorial of Meng-Liang-Gu Battle and Shandong Tianyu Museum of Natural History in Pingyi County.

Besides, Linyi is a commercial city with prosperous logistics industry and has become an intensive and well-organized modern logistic distribution center. Now 1,004 markets of different kinds has been constructed and the transaction value in the year 2008 totaled 93.37 billion yuan. Linyi Wholesale Market is consisted of 68 specialized wholesale markets and the daily passenger flow volume is more than 300,000; the daily traffic flow volume is 50,000. The number of merchants from Zhejiang Province in business here alone is close to 70,000 and the transaction volume reached 53.8 billion yuan in the year 2008. It has formed the pattern of “Linyi in the north equals to Yiwu in the sounth”. Making use of the advantageous commercial trade and logistics industry, Linyi implemented the strategy of “reviving industry with commerce” and lengthened the industry chain of processing, primitively having established 8 highly competitive pillar industries in the area of machinery, building materials, food, wood, medicine, chemical, textile and metallurgy.

Due to geographic advantages, Linyi is a transportation hub. It is located on the double intersection of Rizhao-Dongping Expressway and Beijing-Shanghai Expressway as well as Jiaozhou-Xinyi Railway and Yanzhou-Shijiusuo Port Railway. The highway traffic mileage totaled 20,000 kilometers, ranking among top ones in the province. Linyi is 100 kilometers from Rizhao, Lanshan and Lianyungang ports, and 200 kilometers from Qingdao Port. The airport here is of national grade 2 and has flight many connections to various cities. The three-dimensional transportation pattern has been formed.

Linyi placed fifth on the list of Chinese cities ranked according to city competitiveness, issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the year 2008. In that year, the total product reached 195.82 billion yuan, rising by 13.2%. The value-added of industrial enterprises above designated size (i.e. all state-owned enterprises and those non-state-owned enterprises with an annual sales income over 5 million yuan) was 88.42 billion yuan, up by 16.5%; the fixed asset investment above designated size was 89.75 billion yuan, up by 26.1%. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 81.69 billion yuan, increasing by 23.6%. In the year 2008, the total volume of import and export was 39.9 billion dollars, up by 27 %. The urban per capita disposable income was 14,998 yuan, up by 17% and rural per capita net income was 5,383 yuan, up by 14%.

By Li Ruoxi (Shandong Bureau)