Qingzhou - Definition and Overview

Qingzhou (青州) is the ancient capital of Shandong province, China. It survives to this day as a smaller city to the west of Weifang.

Tourism

• An old church
• Muslim district, including at least two large and historic mosques
• Ou Yuan, a Ming Dynasty garden turned zoo and performance area
• Qingzhou Museum, featuring some of the Buddhist statues unearthed in 1996/1997
• Tuoshan ("Camel Mountain"), which includes an ancient collection of Buddhist grottoes under national protection.

Timeline

• 412: The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian landed on the south of Shandong peninsula at Laoshan, and proceeded to Qingzhou to translate and edit the scriptures he had collected in India.
• 1986: The name "Qingzhou" is recovered from "Yidu".
• 1996: The discovery of over 200 buried Buddhist statues at Qingzhou was hailed as a major archaeological find. The statues included early examples of painted figures, and are thought to have been buried due to Emperor Huizong's Song Dynasty repression of Buddhism (he favoured Taoism).