Jining is actually a very unique city in Shandong. It not only has profound cultural connotations, but also has many interesting folk customs!

Although Jining has a long history, it was just a little-known village during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Jining was originally an inconspicuous Jeju, governed by Juye.

After the Juye flood in 1150, Jeju was moved to its current location.

After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Jin Dynasty, there were frequent floods in Juye. In the eighth year of Emperor Shizu's reign (1271), Jeju was promoted to the prefectural government. Because Jishui meets Si in the south and Wen in the north, the state is located between them and enjoys the tranquility of Jishui, so it is named "Jining Prefecture".

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At this time, Jining, although governed by a prefecture, had a mediocre reputation and was just an ordinary town.

From the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal running through Jining was fully connected, bringing vitality to Jining's rise. As a result, Jining gradually embarked on the road to prosperity.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south, with a total length of about 1,800 kilometers.

It is the longest artificial river in the world and one of the oldest canals.

Together with the Great Wall, it is known as the two great projects in ancient my country. It is world-famous and is a symbol of the Chinese civilization.

The connection of the Grand Canal created superior natural and social conditions for the formation and rise of towns along the canal, and promoted the development and gathering of social productive forces. On this basis, the city of Jining rose rapidly.

Jining is located in the middle section of the Grand Canal and is an important transportation hub and flood and drought dock for the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.

Through the canal, you can reach the Yangtze River and Huaihe River in the south, and the Gyeongsang Province in the north. It is an important place for north-south transmission.

It is known as the "critical rush" and "throat" area of ??the river.

The wharf towns along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal that flourished in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, such as Dezhou, Linqing, Liaocheng (Dongchang), Jining, etc. in Shandong, were influenced by water transportation from the north to the south, and their customs were different from other areas in Shandong.

Most of these towns have a Bamboo Alley, where bamboo weaving shops common in Jiangnan are concentrated. The teahouses set up on the street have roughly the same layout for selling tea and drinking tea.

Yutang Sauce Garden in Jining moved from Suzhou along the canal. Its products still maintain the Jiangnan style and still use the "Gusu Old Store" sign.

Since then, the name "Little Suzhou in Jiangbei" has become famous all over the world, and Jining has become a veritable military, political, economic and cultural center in southwestern Shandong.

What best embodies the style of Jining's residential buildings is Zhugan Lane and the streets connected to it.

It does not have the restraint of the courtyard house in the north, nor the softness of the pink walls and cornices in the south of the Yangtze River. However, it captures a bit of stability from the north and a bit of dexterity from the south. This is the architectural cultural characteristic of Jining.

"Little Suzhou in Jiangbei" is an appropriate evaluation.

Jining has been known as the Four Yao, Eight Views, Three Pagodas, Seven Temples, Eighteen Pavilions, and Seventy-two Yamen since ancient times. Historical relics and historical sites are dotted throughout the city. They are distributed throughout the city. Since the canal was unblocked, along with the prosperity of commerce

, religious culture also penetrated one after another, and Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited the south many times and stayed in Jining several times, leaving Jining with many place names and ballads related to famous people and scenic spots.

There is a famous saying among Jining people: "Born in Suzhou, played in Hangzhou, dressed in Guangzhou, and eaten in Jining."

Jining’s famous food is due to its geographical environment.

Jining is adjacent to rivers and lakes, and is rich in aquatic products. Jining people took advantage of these favorable conditions and time to create famous dishes with local characteristics. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Jining's hotels were all over the streets and alleys, ranging from high-end shark fin banquets to delicious steamed buns and fire-roasted buns.

They are all available, and some of them sell a kind of food, but their workmanship is fine and their flavor is unique, making them very popular among people.

What Jining citizens have widely circulated is their evaluation of these meals and snacks.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 600 catering households, including 500 households operating pasta and various snacks, and more than 100 restaurants, including more than 10 larger ones.

Because it is located in a water town, the specialty dishes of Jining chefs are mostly lake fresh food and aquatic products; because there are many business travelers from the north and south of the canal, the dishes have both the flavors of the north and the south.

Jining cuisine has greatly enriched the Shandong cuisine system.

Jining is one of the birthplaces of Shandong cuisine, with a wide variety of local snacks and distinctive characteristics.

In particular, local foods such as Confucius cuisine, Confucius cakes and Weishan Lake whole fish feast have a high reputation at home and abroad and are must-try delicacies.

Jining snacks have been one of the hot spots in history.

There are many people in Jining doing business, and the market opens for socializing in the morning. There is no time to make breakfast, so people often have the habit of going to the streets to buy breakfast. This practice still exists today.

Businessmen and craftsmen often stay up late, so there are many late-night snacks.

Coupled with the long lag time of the canal fleet and the inconvenience of cooking, street food flourished.

There is a jingle that basically sums up the recipes of Jining’s catering industry.

Pork liver, lamb belly, roasted chicken, roasted goose, roasted duck, fried shredded chicken, fried shredded pork, shredded duck, shredded beef, shredded walnuts, white boiled meatballs, dried fried fish, rice vermicelli meat, sugared fish, dried shredded pork.

Shrimp.

Jining snacks have been one of the hot spots in history.

There are many people in Jining doing business, and the market opens for socializing in the morning. There is no time to make breakfast, so people often have the habit of going to the streets to buy breakfast. This practice still exists today.

Businessmen and craftsmen often stay up late, so there are many late-night snacks.

Coupled with the long lag time of the canal fleet and the inconvenience of cooking, street food flourished.

The basis of Confucius cuisine is also Jining cuisine, but because it often receives royal guests, Confucius cuisine has absorbed a lot of the splendor of palace cuisine.