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Chap t er

Shandong

Shandong Province is situated on the northeast coast of China along the Yellow Sea. It is home to approximately 96 million people. The Yellow River has strongly influenced the culture of this region. A River Runs Through It The Yellow River basin covers about 280,000 square kilometers (174,000 square miles), an area almost as large as California or France. The river flows fromwest to east over a distance of more than 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles) and serves as an important transportation route. It begins in Qinghai Province and flows into and through Shandong, ending at Laizhou Bay on the Bohai Sea, the largest gulf in the country. Shandong has a long peninsula that extends eastward into the sea, separating the Bohai Sea in the north and the Yellow Sea to its south. It has a humid, subtropical climate with hot summers and wet, cool winters due to the influence of ocean currents and rainfall frommonsoons. Mountain High The region between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River (more than 500 kilometers or 310 miles to the south) was the cradle of

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