Over 2,500 years ago, Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher born in Shandong province, had this to say: "What a joy to have friends coming from afar!" I am delighted to welcome all of you to the picturesque city of Jinan, which is known as the "City of Springs" and is a modern city where history, culture and nature coexist in harmony.

Jinan has the alternative name of the Spring City because over 700 natural springs run through it, of which 72 are widely known. The Baotu Spring, which is also called Spurting Spring, is the best among the famous 72 springs. In the city, you can hear spring water jingling and enjoy the mountain scenery. Jinan boasts excellent transportation links. It is bound by Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei to the north, the Yangtze River Delta to the south, the urban agglomerations of Shandong Peninsula to the east and the Central Plains Economic Region to the west. It is also an important node city between the Beijing and Shanghai city clusters.

Jinan is a city with abundant resources. The amount of its educational, medical and financial resources ranks top among other cities in Shandong province. Jinan is a city with a solid industrial foundation. Pillar industries such as automobiles, electronic information, and machinery and equipment manufacturing have advantages in scale. A number of well-known enterprises, such as Inspur Group, Heavy Duty Truck Group (Sinotruk), Qilu Pharmaceutical and Linuo Group, are located here.

Jinan is also a city with a favorable environment for development. Its urban and rural areas are more beautiful and livable through the vigorous efforts made in tackling smog and traffic congestion, demolishing illegal and temporary buildings, clearing up illegal outdoor advertising and building a green city. Through the reform of streamlining administration and delegating powers, Jinan is striving to foster a "ten most" business environment with the highest efficiency in administrative examinations and approvals, minimal number of items requiring examination and approval, and high-quality government services.

Jinan is currently in a critical period, a period of opportunity and a golden period for achieving great-leap-forward development. Adhering to the decisions and plans of Central Committee of CPC, the State Council, the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and the Shandong provincial government, Jinan will spare no effort to promote high-quality development by adopting new development concepts and replacing old growth drivers with new ones. And it will work harder to build itself into a center of regional economic, financial, logistics and technological innovation and a modern spring city compatible with Shandong's strong economic and cultural strengths.

The spring city is waiting for you to experience its charms and opportunities. In Jinan, you can enjoy the beautiful scene of "spring water spurting out like wheels" and experience in person the life of Jinan people with the spring as a companion. You can also appreciate the beauty that "every family is blessed with springs and every household with weeping willows" in this water town in North China. I believe the story of springs in Jinan will leave you with a deep impression and hope all our guests and friends from across the world can feel the spring-like enthusiasm and home-like warmth of this city.

By Wang Zhonglin, secretary of the Jinan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China

Jinan has the alternative name of the Spring City for its over 700 natural springs. [Photo/VCG]

Jinan's beautiful natural scenery. [Photo/VCG]

Daming Lake in Jinan, famous for its lotus. [Photo/VCG]