Linqing

Linqing (Chinese: 临清市; pinyin: Línqīng Shì) is a county-level city within the prefecture-level city of Liaocheng in western Shandong Province, China. It is located north-northwest of the prefectural capital Liaocheng. The city proper has about 143,000 residents (January 2000), whereas Linqing County as a whole had 709,328 inhabitants in 1999. The city is situated at the confluence of the Wei River and the Grand Canal. It is 380 kilometres (240 mi) from Beijing on the Jingjiu railway line to Hong Kong. Elevation within Linqing County ranges from 29 metres (95 ft) to 38 metres (125 ft) above sea level. The area of the county is 955 km². The annual average temperature is 12.8℃, the highest recorded temperature 41.4℃, and the lowest recorded temperature - 22.1℃. Annual mean precipitation is 590.4 millimeters. There are 205 frost-free days per year on average and the average annual sunshine is 2661 hours.

Linqing has played an important role in the history of China. In Ming and Qing times it was a great center for the distribution of textiles, grain and bricks and is also famous as the place where the tiles of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City were produced. Today the city's flourishing economy is based on a number of light industrial enterprises.